For the second consecutive year, threats of animal disease will impact a group of youthful exhibitors at the Berrien County Youth Fair. Last year it was the bird flu crisis that closed down operations for youth who raised chickens, and this year those who have pigs to exhibit will be curtailed.
With the best week of the summer at hand as the Berrien County Youth Fair opens its gates today, Monday August 15, 2016. The board of directors and Berrien County Youth Fair staff has been busy planning and preparing for a fun-filled week for the southwest Michigan community. Like last year, though, they've been thrown a curve ball.
This year, the board of directors had an additional challenge added to their responsibilities as three other fairs in Michigan found cases of influenza in their swine barns. Influenza, sometimes referred to as swine influenza or more simply the swine flu, is a common virus found in pig populations. This virus has various strains and some of those strains can be zoonotic, which means it can be transferred between pigs and people. At this time three fairs have confirmed a zoonotic strain, H3N2 of influenza in the pigs at their fairs.
In people, influenza can cause coughing, sneezing, runny nose and fevers. Those symptoms are similar in pigs and, because influenza is a virus, there is no treatment and the illness typically runs its course in a few days.
Berrien County Youth Fair Board President Bruce Foster says, “Finding out that three other fairs had a zoonotic strain of the swine influenza virus made us take notice." He adds, “We wanted to make sure that we were taking the right steps to protect the people that come to the fair, our exhibitors and families and the animals that are showcased here.
The fair board, staff and swine committee put their heads together and came up with a proactive plan to reduce the risks of someone getting sick.
Fair Manager Karen Klug says, “We’ve really stepped up our bio-security practices this year at the fair.” She tells us, "You will see more cleaning and disinfecting of animal areas and equipment, along with more access to hand cleaning options.” Those improvements include more hand-washing stations, hand-wipe locations and access to hand sanitizer.
Eating and drinking in any livestock barn will be strongly discouraged, and for the 2016 showcase, the swine barn will be closed to the public.
Efforts to reduce the time that the public and exhibitors spend in the swine barn stem directly from recommendations delivered by the state veterinarian at the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.
Fosters says, “We know that the youth have spent a lot of time raising their pigs for fair this year, that is why we focused on giving the swine exhibitors the ability to show and sell the animals that they have raised this year.” However, he says. “Keeping the health of the exhibitors and the public in mind, we thought that keeping the barn closed to the public this year was a great compromise.”
The fair will also be providing cleaning and disinfection areas for youth to use during the week as well as holding an all livestock exhibitor educational meeting prior to the start of the fair.
It is important to know that influenza does not affect the safety or quality of the meat. You cannot get influenza from eating pork or handling pork products. When coming into contact with any animals, good hygiene practices should take place, simple things like washing your hands after coming into contact with animals helps prevent the spread of disease.
For more information on the Berrien County Youth Fair, or for a list of fair events you can visit the fair website by clicking this link: www.bcyf.org. More information on swine influenza can be found at this link: msue.msu.edu/swineinfluenza.
