In the world of livestock health, the “impossible” is often just a goal that hasn’t been met yet.
Years ago, as a veterinary student at Iowa State University, Dusty Oedekoven spent his days bleeding pigs on sow farms and spinning down samples in the lab. At the time, the industry was locked in a battle with pseudorabies. Many producers believed the virus was too pervasive to ever truly disappear.
But Oedekoven watched as the industry rallied, developed vaccines, and made the thousands of small, disciplined decisions required to win. In 2004, the U.S. was finally declared free of the disease.
This isn’t his only experience with disease elimination. For nearly 20 years, he worked for the South Dakota Animal Industry Board, serving 13 of those years as the state veterinarian. From bovine tuberculosis in cattle to scrapie in sheep, Oedekoven is no stranger to the “impossible.”
Now, as chief veterinarian for the National Pork Board, he is facing a new “impossible” in the swine industry: the elimination of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) and porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV).
The Psychology of Elimination
In March 2025, the National Pork Board (NPB) received an advisement at National Pork Industry Forum asking the industry to facilitate the creation of a producer-led national swine health strategy.
During 47 listening sessions across 36 states, Oedekoven heard a recurring theme from producers. They were “PRRS fatigued.” The disease had made raising pigs “not fun anymore.” It was a heavy, endemic weight that felt permanent.
But Oedekoven saw a parallel to this struggle in a place far from the barn: the wrestling mat.
“This year was my son Alex’s fifth time to wrestle in the state tournament,” he says. “This was his third time in the championship match. He’s lost that championship two other times, and while we were so glad he made it that far, when you get to that point and you lose, it is hard.”
It might have been easy to accept that a title just wasn’t in the cards. Instead, Alex used those losses to fuel a year of disciplined, small decisions—extra practices, better nutrition and mental focus. Last week, Alex finally stood at the top of the podium as the South Dakota State A Champion at 144 lb.
Oedekoven believes the pork industry is at a similar crossroads. He presented an update on the next steps for the National Swine Health Strategy at the National Pork Industry Forum. He says this isn’t just a set of technical goals; it’s a mindset shift. The strategy aims to keep foreign diseases like African swine fever out while aggressively moving to eliminate PRRS and PEDV that drain producer morale.
Moving From Management to Eradication
Just as Alex’s title was won in the extra time and attention to detail in the practice room months before the tournament, Oedekoven argues that the battle against endemic disease is won in the mundane, daily adherence to biosecurity protocols.
Eliminating PRRS won’t be easy, he adds. It’s a significant challenge and there is a long list of reasons why this disease causes so much heartache in the industry.
“We know we can eliminate PRRS from a single farm,” Oedekoven says. “We have several examples of what happens when appropriate resources, knowledge and training are all in place – you can eliminate PRRS. Now, how long can you keep it from being reintroduced? I think there’s a lot of factors to that, but we know it can be done.”
The tools are already in place for elimination, but the real power doesn’t live in a lab, Dusty points out. It lives on the farm. It’s in the hands of the producer who enforces a strict biosecurity protocol one more time, or the system leader who chooses transparency over silence.
“It’s a mindset,” he says. “It’s believing that we can do it, believing that we should do it, and taking actions that align with that belief.”
Bringing everybody together around common goals is at the heart of the National Swine Health Strategy. It will take coordination, communication, collaboration and making difficult choices in some cases, Oedekoven says.
“We have a lot of work to do in understanding how we contain the disease on the farm,” he says. “What are the alternatives to moving pigs from a known positive sow farm to an area that was just getting over an outbreak? How do we share information within the industry to protect confidentiality, protect liability, and yet give producers the information they need to make the best decisions? We know that coordinated effort to reduce the viral load is going to pay dividends for everybody.”
Again, those are things the industry doesn’t have all the answers to, Oedekoven adds. But if we don’t change our actions to align with our beliefs, then we’re going to continue to struggle with these viruses.
The road to eliminating PRRS and PEDV will be long, and there will likely be setbacks. But as Oedekoven looks back on the victory over pseudorabies and his son’s journey to the podium, he remains optimistic. Success isn’t found in one giant leap; it’s found in the hundreds of small, purposeful decisions made every single day.
Check out the National Swine Health Strategy tactics here and engage with your state pork associations.
You can listen to more of Oedekoven’s personal experience with disease elimination and his perspective on PRRS on “The PORK Podcast” on YouTube or follow The PORK Podcast anywhere podcasts are found.
