It’s the four-letter ‘word’ we’re all tired of: PRRS. It’s a cunning enemy, an enemy that fights dirty and constantly changes its tactics.
If you aren’t dealing with it now, experts say it’s important to be prepared for PRRS to strike.
“Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) is a frustrating and complicated disease,” says Clayton Johnson, DVM, with Carthage Veterinary System. “It demoralizes our teams at all levels, from the ownership to the newest technicians on the farm.”
There are numerous tools to help producers prevent, control, stabilize and eliminate this virus. However, none of them individually represent a silver bullet, he adds.
“Regardless of how challenging PRRS can be, we have to face the brutal reality that production systems that don’t effectively manage PRRS cannot be competitive in today’s marketplace. As such, we have to position our PRRS management resources strategically to optimally battle PRRS while being realistic that there will be times PRRS has the upper hand at our farm,” Johnson says.
Here’s a collection of stories on PRRS that can help you better understand this devastating disease.
Wind, PRRS and Pig Farm Biosecurity by Benny Mote
When taking phone calls about PRRS breaks, it has been like hearing a bingo caller with all the different strains flowing through with strains 1-7-4, 1-8-4, or 1-4-4 being what I hear the most. What is so different this year than in years past?
One thing we do know is that we have had considerable wind this year, and not just the crazy wind event back on Dec. 15 where we smelled the fires hundreds of miles away in Kansas. It has been documented that PRRS can be viable several miles downwind of the source farm, even in light winds and especially in cool and cloudy conditions.
When we think of biosecurity on our farms, we have a litany of items that must be done each and every day without fail to keep our pigs healthy. If we skimp on any one item, we open ourselves to the opportunity for a disease to enter the farm. Many times, that one skimp will not result in a health break, but all it takes is one pig on the farm to be infected with the disease, the so-called patient zero, and then spread the disease to the rest of the pigs.
Up until this April, our university farm had been naïve for PRRS virus, and given the farm is older than me, that is quite the feat. We don’t have pigs within a 10-mile radius of us. The last live pig introduction to the farm was cesarian-derived boars 30-plus years ago. Our swine farm is fenced in. Our feed mill is on site with corn harvested there at the research center. Because the farm runs on a modified batch system, we were a month out from the last semen order. The pigs on campus for research and teaching all tested negative for PRRS which eliminated the disease piggybacking in with researchers or students from campus to the farm. Entry logs to the unit showed everyone had the required downtime. Find out what happened next.
”...I don’t know what other finger to point at beside wind,” says Kyle Baade about his farm’s PRRS outbreak. Photo by Laura Baade.
When All Hell Broke Loose: Our PRRS Outbreak by Jennifer Shike
“PRRS does not care whether you are a showpig producer. PRRS does not care whether you have two sows or 30,000,” says Kyle Baade, owner of Baade Genetics in southeast Nebraska.
When his farm broke, a commercial farm north of theirs broke with the same strain within 24 hours – seemingly at the same time.
“The worst part was that it felt like it was nothing I did. I hadn’t traipsed a bunch of people through our place. It was a slow time of year. The pig that showed first signs was as well-guarded as any pig on the place. It showed me that you can do everything right in your mind and it can still come out wrong,” Baade says.
Nonetheless, an experience like this makes you do better, he says. He’s been taking a long look at what he can do differently on his farm to prevent another PRRS outbreak. Read about his journey here.
Persistent PRRS Strains Pose Challenges for Pork Producers by Jennifer Shike
Rumors of catastrophic PRRS outbreaks continue to shake the pork industry. One farmer told AgriTalk’s Chip Flory earlier this year that he moved 1,500 pigs in and two-thirds of them were dead within a week due to PRRS.
There’s no question that having to depopulate a sow herd and basically start all over is beyond devastating during a time of high inputs in the pork industry.
“Some of these strains are really tough to get out,” Paul Sundberg, DVM, executive director of the Swine Health Information Center, told Flory during AgriTalk. “Some of these strains seem to persist longer than what we’re used to and that means producers have to go to those kinds of extremes.” Here’s a flashback to what happened in April.
Rope knot sampling was easily executed, leads to minimal crate-to-crate contamination, is more welfare-friendly and a promising testing method for due-to-wean pigs, says Carly Bates. Photo by Bates.
Why Not Rope Knot? New Way to Test Wean Pigs for PRRS Could Save Time, Money by Jennifer Shike
After spending a summer working with pigs and seeing not only the devastating effect of PRRS on a sow farm, but also the labor shortage crisis facing the swine industry, Carly Bates wanted to find a way to help. Bates, a student in Iowa State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, says the innovative project she pursued helps combat both of these current challenges. She presented her findings during “Clinical Cases and Problem-Solving Skills by DVM Students” at the 2022 Allen D. Leman Swine Conference.
Testing for PRRS in due-to-wean pigs can be challenging and time-consuming. Bates wanted to find a more efficient and effective method for PRRS virus testing.
“There are several options that producers can use for detection methods currently, but unfortunately most of the methods currently used are very time consuming, have costly diagnostic submission fees and cause stress events for pigs and/or sows,” Bates says. Click here to see what she did next.
