Foot-and-mouth disease strategy crucial for Canada and cattle feeders
Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a highly contagious virus that can affect cattle, sheep and swine. When an outbreak hits any livestock producerās operation, the results can be devastating, with the potential for entire herds, or even an industry, to be decimated.
The Alberta Cattle Feedersā Association (ACFA), is concerned that Canada is not sufficiently prepared for an outbreak. This needs to be addressed by both the Canadian government and our own industry.
āThe Alberta Cattle Feedersā Association and the National Cattle Feedersā Association (NCFA) are continuing to elevate the importance of readiness for a foot and mouth disease outbreak in Canada,ā said Bryan Walton, ACFAās president and CEO. āOne crucial aspect is access to a vaccine, and a policy around vaccination for FMD in Canada.ā
In March 2018, a delegation of government and industry representatives, including Bryan Walton and Ryan Thompson, visited Boehringer Ingelheim (BI) in Lyon, France, to learn more about its production capabilities for an FMD vaccine.
āFMD is a serious issue, so it was good to have an industry-government delegation in Lyon, to see the facility and talk about the path forward,ā said Ryan Thompson, NCFA board chair. āWe all need to work together to make sure our members are able to have a strategy to deal with an outbreak.ā
Some background
The North American FMD Vaccine Bank is a resource jointly administered by commissioners from Canada, the U.S., and Mexico. However, the U.S. is seeking government funding to create a āUS onlyā vaccine bank because, in todayās intensive livestock industry, they see it as the only way to ensure their producers have access to the required number of vaccines, regardless of strain. There is concern that with their own private resource, their support for the North American bank will diminish.
If Canada does not take similar measures it puts the entire beef industry at risk.
Boehringer Ingelheim has the technology to produce sufficient quantities of an effective, DIVA-compliant (Differentiating Infected from Vaccinated Animals) FMD vaccine ā potentially within five days of receiving the request.
Next steps
āThe meeting has triggered strong interest among both industry and government leaders, in looking at the greater use of vaccination strategies in Canadaās livestock industry, in the event of an FMD outbreak,ā said Bryan. āGreater use of vaccination would require several other strategies to be fully and effectively implemented by industry ā like an immediate āvoluntary cease movementā ā also referred to as a 48 or 72-hour standstill ā and use of packing plants to slaughter for disposal rather than consumption.ā
Vaccination would greatly reduce the need for a āstamping outā strategy, involving mass depopulation and disposal. That would be difficult, if not impossible, to implement in larger operations, and is increasingly considered unacceptable by the general public.
āA very pertinent question for Canada relates to how we re-gain FMD-free status after the deployment of the vaccine,ā continued Bryan. āIt is most likely that the process of regaining FMD free status in Canada or North America, as recognized by the World Organization for Animal Health, OIE, would take a year or more from the incidence of an outbreak. This will depend in part on whether the control measures involveĀ āstamping outā, which would enable faster recognition, or vaccination, which would result in a longer time for recognition. It is important to note that once OIE recognition of FMD-free status is obtained, it would take longer still to re-establish market share.ā
Industry members and government have set up a meeting for April 20, 2018, to begin discussion of a āmade in Canadaā FMD vaccination strategy, taking into account what that would require from both industry and government.
FMD is just one of ACFAās initiatives aimed at helping beef producers raise healthy animals in a low-stress environment. You can learn about other actions being taken in āAnimal health initiatives from Albertaās cattle feedersā.