Baltic Pork Ltd., a 20,000-head farm in central Latvia has confirmed an outbreak of African swine fever (ASF). The farm is located in Laubere Parish, Ogre Municipality, the Food and Veterinary Service (FVS) reports to the Baltic News Network. The FVS is a state authority under the Ministry of Agriculture, responsible for national supervision and control of the food chain and the veterinary sector.
In order to prevent further spread of the disease, all pigs at the facility will be culled, FVS says. The agency is carrying out disease control and containment measures at the affected site, as well as an epidemiological investigation.
One of the major efforts has been setting up a quarantine zone around the infected farm. Within this area, FVS will step up inspections of pig health and compliance with biosecurity requirements, the article said. Pig and pig product movement have been restricted in the quarantine zone.
“The FVS stresses that the risk of ASF introduction into farms is currently particularly high – the virus is present in the environment and can easily be brought into facilities via footwear, clothing, equipment, or transport,” Baltic News Network reports. “Pig keepers are reminded that regardless of the size of the holding, the only way to protect pigs from infection is strict compliance with biosecurity rules.”
Baltic Pork board member Daiga Ļubka explained in the article that the outbreak is very serious and the impact and scale of losses isn’t known yet. They need time to determine the numbers and assess the situation.
Baltic Pork breeds crossbred pigs from Landrace, Yorkshire and Duroc lines, which are mainly sold on the Latvian market, the article said. The piglets raised by the company are also sold to grow-finish farms and some are exported.
Latvia has had eight ASF outbreaks in domestic pig farms this year.
• In May 2025, ASF was discovered in a backyard farm with 36 pigs in Džūkste Parish, Tukums Municipality.
• In early July, ASF was found in a smallholding with six pigs in Glūda Parish, Jelgava Municipality.
• At the end of July, an ASF outbreak was confirmed at a farm with 55 pigs in Rosme, Iecava Parish, Bauska Municipality.
• In mid-August Nygaard International Ltd., a farm with 4,900 pigs in Ģibuļi Parish, Talsi Municipality, confirmed ASF.
• In late August, ASF was confirmed in a household farm with 65 pigs in Babīte Parish, Mārupe Municipality; another with three pigs in Dāviņi Parish, Bauska Municipality; and in yet another smallholding with three pigs in Babīte Parish, Mārupe Municipality.
In 2024, ASF affected seven farms and 585 domestic pigs across Latvia. Ten years earlier, ASF was first confirmed in Latvia in June 2014, when three wild boars tested positive near the Belarusian border.
ASF is a deadly disease of swine, though it poses no human health or food safety risks. It is devastating to the global pork economy.
