Disease is one of the biggest threats to hog farms, impacting both the health of animals and the viability of farm operations.

Swine Health Area and Regional Control — colloquially known as SHARC — is a collaborative tool to help producers anticipate and avoid disease risks to their herd.

SHARC exists to help producers understand and minimize disease risks, to make smart, health-based decisions about operations including hog movement, manure management and new barn construction.

At an industry level, results are cumulative, resulting in a higher level of disease protection for all swine herds — with the potential to support a swifter response to a serious foreign animal disease outbreak, such as African swine fever.

To participate in SHARC, producers, in conjunction with their herd veterinarian, agree to confidential sharing of herd disease status with other participating producers. Collaboration is key, and the more producers who agree to participate, the more effective the program will be.

Mapping software allows participating producers to see disease status and hog density around a premises, using this information to make more timely and effective decisions about disease treatment, vaccination, herd movements, manure management and new construction.

Operated by Swine Health Ontario, in partnership with Ontario Pork and the Ontario Pork Industry Council, SHARC has been built based on extensive industry feedback, and offers significant improvements for producers compared to previous disease management programs.

Sign up today to make the most of this important risk management tool.

SHARC features include:

• Integration of AgManifest movement data to allow health status to follow reported movements
• Daily data uploads to decrease lag time
• Enhanced disease mapping capabilities, while maintaining confidentiality
• Notice to users of farm disease status changes automated
• Increased confidentiality
• Member-only access to disease mapping tools, including radius mapping
• Automated notices to vets on lab results to review and approve or reject
• Automated enrollment for all sites related to a producer number
• Genotyping data added to AHL uploads when available
• Addition of Associate user type to allow related staff to register

Signing up is easy:

Existing ARC&E members are automatically enrolled in SHARC. Not an ARC&E member? Here’s how to sign up in three easy steps:

1. Find your 9-digit producer number and the email address you have registered with Ontario Pork
2. Go to www.swinehealtharc.ca/Enroll and select ‘Producer’
3. Select ‘producer” and follow the prompts.

Once complete, all of your premises will automatically be enrolled. If you run into problems at any step, contact info@swinehealthontario.ca for help