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Better Pork Featured Articles

Better Pork magazine is published bimonthly. After each edition is published, we share featured articles online.


Fighting tapeworm in backyard pigs

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

A bursary awarded to Ellen Hughes, a student at Britain's Cambridge University, is aimed at improving the management of backyard pigs in Ghana and other sub-Saharan countries.

Pigs don't grow as well as they could when they are infected with the pig tapeworm Taenia solium Cysticercosis. Human hosts do even worse. The tapeworm is known to spread Neurocysticercosis, a major cause of epilepsy in the sub-Sahara. This so-called "acquired" epilepsy shows up more often in the developed world because of immigration.

Humans are the only host known to harbour the adult tapeworm. Both pigs and humans can harbour the larvae or cysticerci. Vegetarians and other non-pork eaters can acquire the disease through fecal contamination of their food. The tiny embryos travel through the blood stream to muscles and brain, where they can grow to be a centimetre in size, causing epileptic seizures in 85 per cent of patients where the disease has been identified. BP

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Fire destroys grain elevator in Manitoba

Thursday, May 8, 2025

A fire destroyed a grain elevator in Waskada, Man. About 50 firefighters from Deloraine, Melite and Waskada Fire Departments received calls about the fire around 5:00 a.m. Tuesday morning. About three hours later, the grain elevator reduced rubble and debris with the firefighters... Read this article online

Mother’s Day Q&A with Anna McCutcheon

Thursday, May 8, 2025

Mother’s Day is only a few days away (that’s another reminder), and this week Farms.com has connected with moms in ag for their thoughts on motherhood, its challenges, and how being a parent has changed them. Anna McCutcheon (AM) and her husband Mark are the first generation on their... Read this article online

Mother’s Day Q&A with Ashley Perepelkin

Wednesday, May 7, 2025

With Mother’s Day approaching (don’t forget!), Farms.com has been connecting with moms in ag for their participation in a Q&A about all things motherhood. Ashley Perepelkin (AP) looks after the livestock side of Perepelkin Farms in Condor, Alta., which also includes about 1,000 acres of... Read this article online

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