Negros Occidental remains African Swine Fever-free but close monitoring of a farm in the north is up, Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said Friday, May 5.
Pigs and workers at the farm in EB Magalona have been quarantined, as a biosecurity security measure, after some hogs got sick and died, Diaz said.
The quarantine was enforced to facilitate the screening and culling of the sick pigs, he said.
The pigs were believed to have become sick because of over population and extreme heat, he said.
Conditions in the overcrowded pigpens were aggravated by the heat, Diaz said.
Samples from the sick pigs have been sent to the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) for testing, he said.
The pig population at the farm has been reduced by more than 200 through culling to address the overcrowding problem, he added.
The Provincial Veterinary Office is supervising the burial of the culled pigs, he said.
Dr. Placeda Lemana, OIC provincial veterinarian, said mortalities were cause by the high heat index.
She said the result of the blood samples from Negros submitted to the BAI for testing were negative for ASF.
Meanwhile, the pig live weight price from commercial farms have dropped by P180 to P160 per kilo, and from backyard growers from P160 to P140, she said.
More pigs are being slaughtered and sold locally because if they are transported to other areas they might die from heat strokes because of the intense heat, Lemana said.*