Although influenza and E.coli have been a hot topic of conversation in many circles lately, these four veterinarians agree that porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) continues to cause the greatest problems for pork producers in their area. They discuss a variety of topics from the biggest surprises from a health perspective in 2024 to what producers should do to keep disease pressure down this year.
The veterinarian panel includes:
- Ryan Strobel, DVM, with Swine Vet Center
- Jason Kelly, DVM, with Suidae Health and Production
- Dyneah M Classen, DVM, director of health for Carthage Veterinary Service
- Adam Schelkopf, DVM, health director for Pipestone Management
Q. What’s been the biggest surprise from your perspective in terms of swine health for the first half of 2024?
DC: “The biggest surprise for me in early 2024 were the Seneca Valley Virus outbreaks. This virus historically was considered a warm weather, summer-time concern.”
JK: “Time required for porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) elimination remains high. Ten years ago, you could almost guarantee successful PRRS eradication with a 300-day herd closure. Today, data shows that 300 days of closure may be less than 50% successful in eradication and has resulted in renewed interest in depopulation/repopulation strategies. It is amazing that every litter on a farm can test PRRS negative for 8-10 weeks straight and then suddenly pop up again. These considerations need to be part of the decision on how to manage a PRRS break.”
AS: “There appears to be a shift in how producers are approaching PRRS challenges, with more consideration towards depopulation and repopulation. This is not new in 2024, but has gained more popularity in recent years likely due to the challenging nature of current viruses.”
RS: “It was very quiet from the health perspective in January and February. It really started picking up late March into April with the early seasonal pumping and opening barns up.”
Q. What swine disease is causing the greatest problems for producers in your area and why?
DC: “PRRS viruses, especially the more virulent virus in the Lineage 1C family, continue to be a great problem from health to the financial impact.”
JK: “Since its discovery in the late 1980s, the answer to that question has been the same every year: PRRS. But the strains circulating now seem to share three common features: 1) They tend to be more virulent 2) After the initial break, they tend to hang out in a farm undetected for prolonged periods of time before resurging and 3) They are spread year-round, not just predominantly in the fall.”
AS: “The most detrimental disease for producers domestically continues to be PRRS virus. PRRS has troubled pork producers here for over three decades and continues to do so today, with new emerging strains that seem more virulent than their predecessors. Today, we lack great biological tools that have advanced our fight against this disease. We have had great advancements in biosecurity, which are the best control methods available to us today.”
RS: “Not including the obvious one of PRRS, our next biggest challenges would be E. coli and influenza.”
Q. What is one of the most important things producers need to be paying attention to now regarding swine health?
DC: “Producers need to continue to keep focus on biosecurity and preventing disease from entering the herd.”
JK: “If you have not enrolled in US SHIP, please take the time to do so. Today, 73% of the U.S. breeding herd and 62% of the growing pig herd are enrolled. The US SHIP program is important to the swine industry’s efforts to proactively prepare for maintaining market access in the event of a foreign animal disease outbreak.” Link to https://usswinehealthimprovementplan.com/
AS: “Pork producers and the U.S. industry needs to continue to focus efforts to protect the borders from foreign animal diseases. African swine fever (ASF) and other foreign animal diseases remain the largest threat to the U.S. pork industry. Producers can take action in many avenues to be engaged in efforts that support biosecurity, traceability, U.S. Swine Health Improvement Plan (US SHIP), and Secure Pork Supply plans.”
RS: “Sow farm stability and sourcing. There continues to be more work done on small bugs and how large of an impact that has on profit and loss. Getting a consistent source to your sow farms makes a big impact.”
Q. What is one of the most overlooked things pork producers should do to keep disease pressure down?
DC: “I think producers in business today are savvy and have looked at the risk reward of biosecurity practices to keep their herds healthy. If the producers are not currently implementing a biosecurity practice, it’s something they have made a conscious choice to do so.”
JK: “I would hesitate to use the term overlooked. We all know about the importance of biosecurity practices with air filtration, isolation and testing incoming animals, live haul sanitation, feed sanitation and delivery, safe removal of mortalities, repair and maintenance, and entry/exit of pigs, people, and supplies through critical access points. The weak link in any of these areas may be: 1) Lack of discipline to make sure protocols already in place are followed every day. Most of the time we do not need more protocols, we just need to follow the ones we already have 2) Staffing with people who can focus on managing these practices every day without excess distraction taking away from this focus.”
AS: “Biosecurity is the best defense we have today. We have come a long way with biosecurity in sow farms and adopted sound science/research to help reduce break rates. When it comes to wean-to-market biosecurity, we have tremendous opportunity to improve practices and reduce risk. Many of these practices are low or no cost, they simply require training and commitment. Reducing wean to market pressure will help reduce pressure across the industry.”
RS: “People and area of the farm. Continue to focus on a biosecurity culture with both the sow farms and grow-finish side. On the sow side, control what you can control from an area perspective. Which pigs are you placing close to your sow farms and how often are you monitoring their status? We can have a huge impact by keeping our areas clean.”
Q. What’s one tip you could offer a producer looking to improve their biosecurity plan?
DC: “No biosecurity measure is too small to implement. The simplest procedure can have a huge impact. Example would be having the caretakers changing boots and coveralls between different ages or different health status.”
JK: “Make sure you have someone who believes in it, focuses on it, and is relentless in making sure it gets done correctly every day. If you need to tell your employees that a neighbor just broke with a disease and they should be extra careful with biosecurity, it is too late if they were not being careful already.”
AS: “Start with the education step. Producers, caretakers and others involved in the pork supply chain want to do the right thing for the animals, but often education on what the right thing is has fallen short. With good education on what practices are intended to do and why they are designed as such, we can overcome barriers and design more biosecure farms or systems.”
RS: “Create a culture where the ideas come from the bottom up and are listened to and implemented. Most employees have good ideas to improve different practices and let them feel the ownership of those decisions.”
Q. What’s the best piece of advice you’ve heard lately?
DC: “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Break a project into smaller manageable tasks and implement them on a timeline.”
JK: “Life is chaotic. If everything is urgent, nothing is urgent. Make sure you focus your time on what is most important and not every little thing that is not quite perfect.”
AS: “Sometimes solutions that look expensive are the very things we cannot afford not to do.”
RS: “This industry has a lot of ups and downs. We have been through a long downturn and now is the time to fill in that hole and pay attention to the small details to get better.”
