Minimizing the Impact of Covid-19 on your Farm and the Current Status of ASF in Europe | Shane McAuliffe

Summary

Shane McAuliffe is from Kerry, Ireland where his family has 2,000 sows across 4 modern sites including Ireland’s first freedom farrowing farm. He holds a Masters in Pig Health from the Royal Veterinary College in London, where he studied associations between respiratory disease status, production performance, biosecurity and antibiotic use on Irish pig farms.

McAuliffe also serves as Secretary of the Irish Pig Health, and is the Chairman of Pig Health and Welfare on the Irish Farmers Association National Pig and Pigmeat Committee. In 2019, he was chosen as an EU Pig Ambassador for his work in community management. An advocate of pig welfare, Shane also works part time as the International Swine Business Manager for EASYFIX Ireland where he develops the worldwide market for the EASYFIX range of environmental enrichment for pigs.

Top Quotes from Shane McAuliffe

1. “DNA traceback is capable because the DNA of every single Irish boar is kept on a National database and that means that the Irish Farmers Association can go into restaurants and supermarkets all around the country, pick up a piece of pork or bacon, take it back to the lab, and the see if it matches any boar in the database.”
2. “Denmark finishes most of their pigs in Germany and Poland, producers are worried about the closure of borders. We are also worried about the movement of pig meat and if it is held at the borders, therefore affecting the shelf life.”
3. “The preventative measures used on farms to prevent the spread of Covid-19 must be highly individualized. What works on one farm may not work on another.”
4. “In Ireland, being an island is a big advantage, the worry is that people out there could have pigs that we don’t know about. Even if the risk is low, it is one that we cannot take!”