The first results from a survey being conducted by the MLMMI, in collaboration with the University of Wisconsin Madison, to gather information on how custom swine manure applicators are dealing with Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea was released earlier this month at the Livestock Manure Expo in Springfield, Missouri.

MLMMI executive director, John Carney says custom applicators are spending more time planning manure application in an effort to minimise any chance of organic material getting close to the livestock and infecting the livestock.

John Carney-Manitoba Livestock Manure Management Initiative:

Custom applicators are spending more time mapping the location of roads and barns and thinking about where is traffic flow going so that they can take roads and use roads that have less traffic going to the barn, whether it's staff working there or feed trucks.

We're seeing applicators thinking hard and talking with their customers about each piece of equipment that comes onto the farm for manure pumping and applying and considering is this a piece of equipment that should be bought and left on the farm rather than moved from farm to farm, how much equipment can be staged in the field and not go into the yard in the first place.

We're hearing manure applicators ask for a site map of the farm with an indication of where is the line of separation, that they want manure application and staff to stay on one side because barn traffic, pigs, people, feed trucks are on the other side.

The objective of coarse is don't have cross over between manure application and anybody coming into or going out of the barn or near the pigs.

Mr Carney stresses biosecurity is nothing new to manure applicators but with this new risk they have taken that focus up a level.