Nearly a decade ago, John Harding, DVM, noticed an alarming trend across Canada. As the country’s swine veterinarians grew older and reached retirement age, the number of young veterinarians interested in taking their place in the swine industry was dwindling.
“There was a realization that we needed to change our approach to training swine veterinarians,” says Harding, a professor, researcher and swine practitioner at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine.
Veterinarians who specialize in swine health management play a critical role in Canada’s swine industry — the country’s fourth largest farming sector. According to the Canadian Pork Council, more than 7,000 pig farms produce over 25.5 million animals each year with annual direct farm gate sales of $4.1 billion.
Swine veterinarians work closely with producers in managing herd health through disease prevention and biosecurity protocols that are in place to protect the industry from the threats of major disease outbreaks.“We’re having a hard time attracting students to the swine sector. A major part of that is because there isn’t much exposure in this area of veterinary medicine,” says Harding.
After nearly five years of planning, the Swine Medicine Advancement, Recruitment and Training program was fully launched in July 2024 with the support of Canada’s pork industry, swine veterinarians from across the country, and the University of Saskatchewan.
Read more at National Hog Farmer.
[Source: National Hog Farmer 13 December 2024, by Tyler Schroeder, USASK Western College of Veterinary Medicine]