Disease threatens Quebec pork
CANADA - Quebec's pork producers are asking for help after a disease killed more than 200,000 pigs in the province last year.Pork farmer Lyse Grenier says post-weaning multisystemic wasting syndrome started hitting Quebec farms a year ago. It is already affecting half of them.
"The first day it's not too serious. But after a week, you begin to remove dead animals," Grenier says. "It gets pretty depressing."
The syndrom is also hurting bottom lines. Every dead pig costs producers hundreds of dollars in feed and maintenance, disposal of the carcass and in lost revenue.
The Quebec Federation of Porc producers has just asked the federal government to help those who have been affected.
"The syndrome does not have an impact on consumer products," says Claude Corbeil, the Federation's president. "It began in Europe, and Quebec producers are learning from that experience."
Source: CBC Montreal
10 February 2006
2 minute read
