When a disease outbreak occurs on a pig farm, the owner and employees often feel like they’re on an island. Lisa Becton, associate director of the Swine Health Information Center (SHIC), is working to change that perception. There are many resources available to producers facing health issues, she said during a presentation at the 2024 World Pork Expo. She works closely with representatives of the American Association of Swine Veterinarians, National Pork Producers Council and the National Pork Board to help find solutions to many health problems or challenges producers face.
“You’re not alone on this,” she says.
If attendees of the session are any indication, U.S. pork producers deal with many endemic diseases and part of SHIC’s mission is to monitor health issues.
“We perform both domestic and global monitoring,” she says. “We’re still looking at Foot and Mouth Disease as well as classical swine fever.”
A recent example of international involvement was an Australian outbreak of Japanese Encephalitis Virus (JEV) that affected both pigs and people.
“We considered the main priorities that we needed to address and called for research proposals. We’re constantly monitoring because viruses like to change and we have to continually be on the lookout,” she says.
The Swine Outbreak Investigation program within SHIC helps identify the weaknesses in a farm outbreak. It aggregates the data trends can be identified.
“We’re talking to veterinarians for novel ideas to find alternative solutions,” says Becton. “We also look at biosecurity to determine if there better ways to enter and exit a farm.”
Becton works closely with the veterinarian community by asking what problems they’ve encountered.
“We then work on the basic science of those health priorities and how it can be applied in the field,” Becton explains. “Just because you do it in the lab doesn’t mean it’s going to work in the field.”
Becton understands that producers can’t manage what they don’t monitor, and SHIC activities revolve around this important component.
“Monitoring allows you to see trends,” she says. “It’s important for us to continue to monitor disease – I know there’s a cost with diagnostics but we really need the metrics if we’re going to manage diseases effectively on the farm.”
One huge variable in terms of swine health is biosecurity, and that often translates to procedures taken by staff members. Becton explains that SHIC is looking at additional research to understand why people do what they do on the farm in terms of biosecurity.
“This information will make it easier to develop programs,” she says. Employees need the necessary training and resources to ensure a strong defense against disease.
“They run the farm and we have to retain a good workforce,” she emphasizes.
