National Scrapie Eradication Program
By Jenn Fleming – Canadian Sheep Federation

 Recently the Canadian sheep industry received some good news – a welcome change to what has been a gloomy landscape for the past 20 months – with the funding announcement for the Voluntary Scrapie Flock Certification Program (VSFCP) and the National Genotype Program. Within the next few months the Canadian Sheep Federation in collaboration with the Ontario Sheep Marketing Agency (OSMA) and the Canadian Sheep Breeders’ Association (CSBA), will be making these programs available to Canadian sheep producers.

 Voluntary Scrapie Flock Certification Program

This pilot program will provide 60 sheep producers the opportunity to choose between three different approaches to manage the risk of scrapie on their individual premises.  Ten goat producers will also have the opportunity to access a single pathway. Pathway 1 requires the producer to operate a virtually closed ewe flock; Pathway 2 involves genotype screening along with third eyelid biopsy and; Pathway 3 is the development of a genetically resistant flock using either RR rams or QR and RR ewes and rams.  Upon acceptance into the program, all flocks participating in the VFSCP are required to submit all on-farm deads greater then 12 months of age for scrapie testing (heads, obex and lymph nodes are acceptable for testing) by provincial / private laboratories. Once a flock has reached the certified level, it will need to continue to meet the program requirements to remain Certified.

Flock inventories are the absolute cornerstone of the program. Every animal will have to be identified and all sheep entering and leaving the flock will have to be recorded. This includes animals being born, dying, purchased, sold or loaned out, (lambs, ewes, rams, embryos and semen) with all inventory records being reconciled yearly by the producer.   

OSMA will be the administrator of the program right across Canada and will be responsible for the application process and statistics. A private veterinarian accredited by CFIA will be responsible for overseeing the farm operations in terms of inventories, blood sampling and conducting the first level audit, while OSMA will be responsible for the second level audit and making all producer advancement decisions.

Producers will be responsible for paying for their accredited veterinarian.  Producers will also be financially responsible for any genotype testing at private laboratory required prior to application and entry into the program. 

National Genotyping Project

            The goal of this project is to collect genotype samples from 36,000 purebred sheep from across Canada over a 12-14 month period. Sheep producers who are selected to participate will be contacted to arrange sampling from selected purebred sheep.  Sampling will take place throughout the year.

Individual sheep’s genotype results will be reported back to the producer and will be entered into a database linked to the purebred sheep registration maintained by CLRC and Canadian Sheep Breeders Association (CSBA).  An associated software program is currently under development by Nova Scotia Agricultural College (NSAC) to help producers predict genotype results or indicate the need for testing of offspring from a breeding of a ewe and ram of known genotype entered in the database.

             Over the coming weeks the CSF, CSBA, OSMA and provincial sheep associations will be finalizing the process for selecting producers to participate in the programs and once done, the information will be circulated.  

CFIA program on infected premises

            In addition to the recent Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada funding announcement, the CFIA has also announced changes to their program in relation to a scrapie infected premises and suspect animals. As of December 1, 2004, the definition of scrapie suspect has been changed; since scrapie is not a disease that presents with a clear clinical picture, the definition has been changed to include any animal with scrapie as a differential diagnosis.  This change in definition enables mature animals which are sick or poor doers to be classified as scrapie suspects. Any producer that has such an animal should call a CFIA veterinarian.  Using the new definition, if the CFIA veterinarian deems the animal to be a scrapie suspect, they will order the destruction of the animal, test it and in return will receive a surveillance sample. Producers will receive market value for all animals that are ordered destroyed.

On an infected premise the producer can choose either total depopulation or genetic triage. There are now mandatory post-control actions (surveillance) on all farms, regardless of the choice made. The good news for producers is that they can use this surveillance to participate in the scrapie flock certification program.  The CFIA provides the producer access to free accredited veterinary services and free scrapie testing for the period of mandatory surveillance.

The CFIA is modifying its approach to the investigation of potential trace-ins (source flocks). The changes eliminate the need to destroy animals in flocks that provided breeding females to a scrapie positive flock. Instead, the CFIA will bleed animals 14 months or older, genotype these sheep and third eyelid biopsy QQ animals. If negative, these test results can be used by the flock owner to enter Pathway 2 of the Voluntary Scrapie Flock Certification Program.

On infected premises, the producers will receive market value for all animals ordered destroyed.  It is ultimately the responsibility of the producer to arrange destruction and disposal of the animals, although typically the CFIA assists in this process.  The producer is compensated for the costs of destruction and disposal (regardless of the method selected).