Hogs are being moved out of a finisher farm in southeast Manitoba, after the Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea (PED) Virus was discovered at the operation last week. The pigs are being moved out to the US market. The barn is being cleaned and disinfected and new pigs will be brought in once the disease is under control.

This was the tenth on-farm case of PED discovered in the province. The farm is within 5 km of a sow farm that was confirmed positive for PED on September 14th.

Manitoba Pork General Manager Andrew Dickson says they don't believe the two cases are directly related. Calls are currently being put out to find out where the disease might have come from and also where it might end up.

"The problem we've had with all the cases is that we've never been able to definitively say how each of those operations got the disease," commented Dickson. "There's so many potential ways the virus could be spread, by the time it got into a barn, the way it might have got in there is long past."

Dickson couldn't say how many pigs would be lost, but the number is in the hundreds. He notes the plan is to get both farms back into operation once the disease has been eradicated.

Producers are reminded to be extra vigilant with their biosecurity measures, as the cooler, wet weather outside is conducive for the disease.

There have been five confirmed on-farm cases of PED in Manitoba this year, compared to just one in 2015.