The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) temporarily closed the Olymel hog plant in Red Deer, Alberta, Monday after it received a suspicious load of hogs, but initial tests have ruled out foot-and-mouth disease, a government spokesman said Tuesday.
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Acording to a Reuters story by Rod Nickel, final analysis of the initial negative results will be available late Tuesday or on Wednesday after further analysis at the federal laboratory in Winnipeg, said CFIA spokesman Guy Gravelle. The initial tests were negative for any reportable animal disease, including foot-and-mouth, he said.
“Preliminary results can often be turned around based on the final analysis but at this stage everything looks like it’s not FMD or anything of that sort,” Gravelle said.
The government continued to test the roughly 200 hogs in the original load, said Gravelle, adding that it’s likely not all have been tested yet.
He could not say what type of testing CFIA was conducting.
About Harry Siemens
Harry's Bio - On the Edge with Siemens Says
Communicator extraordinaire Harry Siemens interacts with his vast agricultural audience through speaking, writing, and commentating. He creates an awareness of what’s happening in agriculture as an advocate of the farmer, and provides a rare edge, never afraid to express his own informed opinion. With his 41 years plus of experience, people respect, and trust him to provide always the most relevant and current farm information.
Harry Siemens comments on the news, motivates, gives his own opinions to the public everyday, as an independent farm communicator and farmer advocate through various media outlets.
As a motivational speaker, Harry can deliver a new speech everyday, taking any information and adapting it to the right situation. He integrates the current farm issues with motivation, and humour. He speaks to audiences ranging from the AGM of the U.S. Grains Council in Montreal to the local Farmers Marketing Club in Plum Coulee, MB or Sunhaven Farms in Kinsella, Alberta and many in between.
Harry Siemens, the journalist, is always on top of things, hearing it first, and then giving the news spiced with personal commentary. Along with his up-to-date website and e-newsletter FarmWatch, he writes for various publications across Western Canada and the U.S., including the AgriPost, Prairie Hog Country, and Western Dairy Farmer.
He also writes for hire, which goes back to adapting any information to any audience or situation.
Harry Siemens, the commentator, gives you more than the story. He provides the story with his own opinion and from a perspective on how it will affect the reader and/or listener directly
In the United States Harry appears regularly with Max Armstrong and Orion Samuelson on ‘This Week in Agribusiness’ seen and heard weekends on the RFD-TV Network giving the Canadian perspective. He works closely with Lynn Ketelson and Linda Brekke to share the issues that face producers in Canada on the Linder Farm Network heard on over 40 radio stations in Minnesota. Ratings show this to be the most listened to half-hour farm broadcast in the United States.
Harry Siemens, the communicator, integrates speaking, writing, and commentating, giving a clear picture of the big and small issues in layman’s terms. He reaches his audience through the ‘Net [SiemensSays.com] print, one on one, or on the radio, able to express his opinion, and keep everything fresh by Staying on the Edge.
The bigger issue here, that truly shocks me, is WHY someone would ship animals showing signs of sickness to a plant? Isn’t that a huge welfare issue? Yes, yes it is…so where is the story on that? Why don’t we know where the animals went who were turned back during the ‘shut down’, as brief as it was? Was the farmer who shipped the sick animals educated about what is permitted to be sent for slaughter from not just a human food health issue but also from an animal welfare issue? Those sick animals could have spread infection all along their route and at every stopping point along the way…what a horror that would have been! There is always more to the story, and when the welfare of the animals are not part of that story I start to wonder why and then I go looking for answers – will anyone take that call? I’ll keep you posted!