swine health

Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) is a significant disease and cost the swine industry some $660 million annually. For multiple decades, the industry has had its hands tied when it comes to PRRS but new research out of Pipestone shows that may no longer be the case, and in fact, producers may now the ones in charge of the virus

Joining us to share newly released details on a study looking at whether the application of a comprehensive, science-based approach to breeding herd biosecurity, known as next-generation biosecurity, could reduce the PRRS risk across a large commercial production company is Dr. Scott Dee.

For more information: javma-javma.23.08.0437.pdf

This episode of Feedstuffs in Focus is sponsored by United Animal Health, a leader in animal health and nutrition. You can learn more about United Animal Health and how they are working to advance animal science worldwide by visiting the website at UnitedANH.com

There is no right answer when it comes to porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome, but controlling the virus in the early days requires PRRSv herd stabilization and herd closure to be part of the conversation. 

In this episode, Dr. Paul Yeske, Swine Vet Center, walks us through different strategies producers can use in the field to control and eliminate PRRS L1C. Our Ann Hess sat down with Dr. Yeske at this past weekend’s PRRS conference in Chicago, IL.

This episode is sponsored by United Animal Health, a leader in animal health and nutrition. You can learn more about United Animal Health and how they are working to advance animal science worldwide by visiting the website at UnitedANH.com

For more information on this and other topics, we invite you to visit our websites - www.beefmagazine.com, www.Feedstuffs.com,  and www.NationalHogFarmer.com. 


 

Production costs continue to climb across the swine industry, and the health costs associated with porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome only make it worse. PRRS is estimated to cost the industry $1.8 million per day.

Host Sarah Muirhead talks with Dr. Katie Coleman from Iowa Select Farms to discuss how Iowa Select reduced PRRS incidence by more than 90% in affected barns, without building new barns in a swine-dense area. 

They discuss: 

• Costs of PRRS to a system
• A specific type of filtration addition that didn’t require a new barn build
• Timeline necessary for modifications and culture shift
• How improved herd health benefits employees
• Tools they used and lessons learned

This podcast is one of a four-part series on controlling costs with herd health, which is brought to you by Pharmgate Animal Health. Check out the other three episodes for discussions on Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae, Lawsonia and porcine sapovirus. Call your Pharmgate representative or visit pharmgate.com to learn about their broad portfolio of options to support your protocols.

Production costs continue to climb across the swine industry, and the health costs associated with porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome only make it worse. PRRS is estimated to cost the industry $1.8 million per day.

Host Sarah Muirhead talks with Dr. Katie Coleman from Iowa Select Farms to discuss how Iowa Select reduced PRRS incidence by more than 90% in affected barns, without building new barns in a swine-dense area. 

They discuss: 

• Costs of PRRS to a system
• A specific type of filtration addition that didn’t require a new barn build
• Timeline necessary for modifications and culture shift
• How improved herd health benefits employees
• Tools they used and lessons learned

This podcast is one of a four-part series on controlling costs with herd health, which is brought to you by Pharmgate Animal Health. Check out the other three episodes for discussions on Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae, Lawsonia and porcine sapovirus. Call your Pharmgate representative or visit pharmgate.com to learn about their broad portfolio of options to support your protocols.

Can we do better with how we start our pigs? Yep, we probably can. 

In this episode of Feedstuffs Precision Pork, host Patrick Duerksen, Commercial Director for Cargill, is joined by Drs. Wes Schweer, Swine Nutritionist with Cargill, and Brooke Smith, Veterinary Nutrition Lead of Cargill. They talk about the importance of pushing the envelope in the nursery space and trying new things.

Feedstuffs Precision Pork is brought to you by Cargill.  Never miss out on knowing today’s profitability outlook. 

To learn more about the general outlook, sign up for Cargill’s Pig Flash newsletter. You can also customize the data to your operation using Cargill’s Producer Profitability tools so you always have the profitability outlook tailored to your specific situation. Just ask the Cargill team. 

Researchers in swine nutrition have focused much of their recent efforts on exploring how feed can benefit sows and pigs beyond growth and production. Historically, interventions have concentrated on attacking a particular pathogen, but modern technologies have shown promise in proactively supporting and developing pigs’ immune systems. 

This episode of Feedstuffs in Focus is sponsored by Purina Animal Nutrition. Driven to unlock the greatest potential in every animal, Purina is an industry-leading innovator offering a valued portfolio of complete feeds, supplements, premixes, ingredients and specialty technologies for the livestock and lifestyle animal markets. For more information, visit purinamills.com. 

For additional background on this topic: https://www.feedstuffs.com/news/purina-announces-new-swine-feed-additives 

With us today to talk about the science behind the immune system as well as new feed additives that proactively support immune function is Dr. Erin Bryan, a swine nutritional immunologist with Purina Animal Nutrition. Dr. Bryan is on the Swine Innovation Team and conducts much of her research at the Purina Animal Nutrition Center, the company’s state-of-the-art research farm in Gray Summit, Missouri. Dr. Bryan and Feedstuffs’ Ann Hess caught up at the World Pork Expo in Des Moines, Iowa.

For more information, on this and other topics, we invite you to visit our websites - www.Feedstuffs.com and www.NationalHogFarmer.com. While you are there be sure to check out our digital editions and our new Feedstuffs 365 platform.

Globally pork production continues to grow.  Improvements in management and genetics have enabled a significant improvement in the production efficiency of sows through increases in the number of piglets born alive and weaned and consistent litter performance across parities. Unfortunately, a concomitant steady rise in sow mortality. One of the major reasons for sow mortality is pelvic organ prolapse (otherwise known as POP).

Joining us today to talk about some recent research findings related to POP are Dr. Jack Dekkers of Iowa State University and Vishesh Bhatia, a Ph.D. student of Dekkers. They along with Dr. Jason Ross, also of Iowa State University, investigated the genetic basis of uterine prolapse with the assistance of Topigs Norsvin. The main finding of their work has been that uterine prolapse appears to be even more genetically influence than what was previously realized. 

This episode of Feedstuffs in Focus is sponsored by Topigs Norsvin.  Swine genetics company Topigs Norsvin is renowned for its innovative approach to implementing new technologies and its continuous focus on cost-efficient and sustainable pig production.  Research, innovation, and dissemination of genetic improvements are the cornerstones of the company.  For more information, visit www.TopigsNorsvin.US.

For additional background on the topic: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fgene.2023.1154713/full

For more information, on this and other topics, we invite you to visit our websites - www.Feedstuffs.com and www.NationalHogFarmer.com. While you are there be sure to check out our digital editions and our new Feedstuffs 365 platform.

Before investing in new technology that can lead to earlier disease detection, producers rightly want to understand the return on investment. 

To dig more into that topic our own Ann Hess is joined today by Dr. Dale Polson and Dr. Carmen Alonso, both with Boehringer Ingelheim. Dr. Polson’s focus is that of Global Integrated Health Management. Dr. Alonso is senior technical manager. 

In this episode, we take a look at precision swine production in general as well as a new methodology that proves the ROI of early detection. Let’s start with a discussion of research findings presented during the AASV meeting in Denver. 

For more information, on this and other topics, including additional coverage from the AASV meeting, we invite you to visit our websites - www.Feedstuffs.com and www.NationalHogFarmer.com. While you are there be sure to check out our digital editions and our new Feedstuffs 365 platform.

For the hog industry, the fight with porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) continues, but perhaps there are things that hog producers can do to get the upper hand on the disease. 

What can be done on the farm to start taking control of your own destiny? Feedstuffs Ann Hess caught up with Dr. Clayton Johnson of Carthage Veterinary Service Ltd. during the recent American Association of Swine Veterinarian annual meeting in Denver to get an update on PRRS and what he sees as the belt and buckle opportunity to minimize PRRS. They also dig into on-farm monitoring, the value of air filtration systems and other tools for minimizing disease risk. 

For more information, on this and other topics including additional coverage from this year's AASV annual meeting, we invite you to visit our website. While you are there be sure to check out our digital editions and our new Feedstuffs 365 platform.

African swine fever can be devastating to a hog operation but what about to a feed manufacturing facility. Research is being conducted at Kansas State University to evaluate the feed safety risk related to the feed manufacturing process and what can be done to mitigate that risk. Unfortunately, it isn’t as simple as relying on the heat of the pellet mill to kill the virus and/or removal of dust from the facility. And when it comes to chemical mitigation formaldehyde is an effective treatment but this important tool is currently under attack by the EPA.

To walk us thru the work being done related to ASF and feed manufacturing is Kansas State University’s Dr. Chad Paulk. We caught up with him during the IPPE convention in Atlanta.

This episode is sponsored by United Animal Health, a leader in animal health and nutrition. You can learn more about United Animal Health and how they are working to advance animal science worldwide by visiting their website UnitedANH.com.

 

Biosecurity is one of the most important aspects of a successful livestock enterprise, with a growing number of threats in the form of viral disease outbreaks or the potential for foreign animal disease incursion. Technologies to help producers in the fight are proliferating, including a new app to help producers, veterinarians, and public health officials share information as quickly as possible.

Gustavo Machado is an epidemiologist specializing in emerging and transboundary infectious diseases at North Carolina State University. At the North American PRRS Symposium held earlier this month in Chicago, Machado sat down with National Hog Farmer editor Ann Hess to discuss the Rapid Biosecurity App, a tool that standardizes Secure Pork Supply biosecurity plans and creates maps to visualize the biosecurity infrastructure of individual farms across multiple states. 

According to Dr. Macado, in each state, the RABapp provides the pork producer and Department of Agriculture with rapid access to approved biosecurity plans status to expedite outbreak responses.

Viral diseases are a top-of-mind concern for the U.S. livestock industry, and perhaps most especially in the swine business. Experts recently gathered in downtown Chicago at the North American PRRS Symposium to discuss topics ranging from virus transmission and biosecurity to specific concerns about senecavirus.

Scott Dee is director of research at Pipestone Applied Research. Dee is one of the leading voices on the topics of disease transmission, and has conducted considerable research in the areas of viral transport and transmission in feed, feed biosecurity, and on-farm antimicrobial resistance.

During the conference, he spoke with Feedstuffs editor Sarah Muirhead.

You can read more of our coverage of animal health issues and the latest research in the pages of Feedstuffs. You can find our latest issue and past editions by visiting Feedstuffs.com and clicking on “Digital Editions.”

Welcome to this episode of Feedstuffs Swine Healthline, brought to you by Pharmgate Animal Health and focused on writing and executing effective swine health protocols.

One aspect of the job as a swine veterinarian is helping your customers or your teams develop and write swine health protocols. 

No matter how good the protocol, it won’t work to protect pigs if the steps aren’t being executed in the barn, at the truck wash or on the road between farms. 

Are you confident your protocols are being accurately executed? How do you know? 

Today’s guest spends much of his time helping pork production systems answer those questions. Dr. Jerome Geiger is a health assurance veterinarian with Pig Improvement Company. Dr. Geiger has seen plenty of cases in which biosecurity protocols were executed differently than they were written. 

He will explain four strategies you can use to ensure your protocols work as well in real life as they do on paper. And, he will share what he thinks is the most important piece of successful swine health protocols.

This is the last in a four-part podcast series about Swine Respiratory Disease Complex brought to you by Pharmgate Animal Health. Call your Pharmgate representative or visit pharmgate.com to learn about their broad portfolio options to support your swine health protocols. 

Download the other podcasts in the series to learn about the latest research in PRRSV cases, the challenges posed by endemic bacterial agents in swine facilities and advice when considering disease elimination from a system or pig flow.

Welcome to this episode of Feedstuffs Swine Healthline, brought to you by Pharmgate Animal Health and focused on endemic bacterial agents. 

Increasingly, the swine industry's attention is focused on epidemic agents, such as PRRS and PED, or the constant threat of foreign animal diseases, such as African Swine Fever. In this episode, we switch gears and talking about an ever-present challenge posed by endemic bacterial agents, such as Streptococcus suis and Glaesserella parasuis – bacterial agents that jeopardize herd health, compromise animal well-being and drag down performance potential. 

Our guest is Dr. Maria Jose Clavijo, a research assistant professor at Iowa State University and a health assurance veterinarian with The Pig Improvement Company (PIC). Dr. Clavijo will talk about trends that show an increase in the diagnosis and detection of certain bacterial pathogens. She’ll also explain how whole genome sequencing helps identify different pathogen strains, opening the door to more effective disease control programs. 

This is the second in a four-part podcast series about Swine Respiratory Disease Complex brought to you by Pharmgate Animal Health. Call your Pharmgate representative or visit pharmgate.com to learn about their broad portfolio options to support your protocols.

Join us next week on Swine Healthline to hear from Dr. Jeremy Pittman, a veterinarian with Smithfield Pork. He will talk about the complex factors of successful disease elimination strategies and how you as a veterinarian can ask the right questions to help your customers meet their pork production goals.

Welcome to this episode of Feedstuffs Swine Healthline, brought to you by Pharmgate Animal Health and focused on endemic bacterial agents. 

Increasingly, the swine industry's attention is focused on epidemic agents, such as PRRS and PED, or the constant threat of foreign animal diseases, such as African Swine Fever. In this episode, we switch gears and talking about an ever-present challenge posed by endemic bacterial agents, such as Streptococcus suis and Glaesserella parasuis – bacterial agents that jeopardize herd health, compromise animal well-being and drag down performance potential. 

Our guest is Dr. Maria Jose Clavijo, a research assistant professor at Iowa State University and a health assurance veterinarian with The Pig Improvement Company (PIC). Dr. Clavijo will talk about trends that show an increase in the diagnosis and detection of certain bacterial pathogens. She’ll also explain how whole genome sequencing helps identify different pathogen strains, opening the door to more effective disease control programs. 

This is the second in a four-part podcast series about Swine Respiratory Disease Complex brought to you by Pharmgate Animal Health. Call your Pharmgate representative or visit pharmgate.com to learn about their broad portfolio options to support your protocols.

Join us next week on Swine Healthline to hear from Dr. Jeremy Pittman, a veterinarian with Smithfield Pork. He will talk about the complex factors of successful disease elimination strategies and how you as a veterinarian can ask the right questions to help your customers meet their pork production goals.

In response to data from the Swine Disease Reporting System, leaders of the Swine Health Information Center recently shifted $1 million of its 2022 budget to focus specifically on biosecurity in the finishing phase of hog production. The data showed a number of disease pressures on finishers, from APP to PRRS, prompting the additional focus on that segment of the production chain.

Megan Niederwerder is a veterinarian and swine health researcher serving as Associate Director of the Swine Health Information Center, otherwise known by the acronym SHIC. In this episode Dr. Niederwerder explains what the Reporting System showed in terms of disease outbreaks in finishing barns, and why SHIC opted for a mid-year shift in its programming in response to that data.

We’ll also focus specifically on recent APP outbreaks, and why those are particularly concerning to producers and the veterinarians who care for the pigs in finishing operations.

For more of our coverage of animal health and related research, check out the latest dynamic digital edition of Feedstuffs HERE.

Researchers at Kansas State and Ohio State universities recently calculated that performance gaps between barrows and gilts cost integrated swine operations as much as $5.12 per gilt, a significant cost you might think of as “The Gilt Gap.”

Dr. Jason Woodworth, a nutritionist at Kansas State University, and Dr. Ben Bohrer, a meat scientist at The Ohio State University, conducted a statistical analysis of the combined results of 34 peer-reviewed scientific studies representing almost 16,000 pigs.

The study showed gilts were associated with 5.9% lower average daily gain, 11.4% lower average daily feed intake and 4.3% better feed efficiency rate compared with barrows. In this episode, Dr. Woodworth and his post-doctoral research associate Dr. Jamil Faccin share their findings about “the gilt gap” and what producers need to know about the gilts in their operation.

RELATED: Read more about the gilt gap at Feedstuffs.com, or watch our recent Feedstuffs 365 interview with swine industry consultant Steve Pollmann for some insights into the practical implications of the study.

Animal disease outbreaks are one of the key challenges facing livestock producers and veterinarians. State veterinarians and related animal health officials at the state level play a critical role in managing outbreaks of certain diseases that could devastate the industry. Significant progress has been made in recent years but there is more that needs to be done to support the preparedness and planning effort of the states. 

Earlier this week, Feedstuffs visited with several swine industry professionals at the American Association of Swine Veterinarians annual meeting. We spoke with Indiana State Veterinarian Dr. Bret Marsh about his role in disease preparedness in his state, and what state health officials can and should be doing to help the industry be ready for potential foreign animal disease issues.

We also talked with Dr. Marsh about the current avian influenza outbreak in the Hoosier State.

You can see more of our coverage of the AASV annual meeting at Feedstuffs365.com.

This episode is sponsored by United Animal Health, a leader in animal health and nutrition. You can learn more about United Animal Health and how they are working to advance animal science worldwide by visiting their website UnitedANH.com.

African swine fever has been on everyone’s mind for several years now, and more recently with cases of ASF being confirmed in the Dominican Republic and Haiti, it is definitely a topic of conversation for pork producers throughout North America. 

While no cases of ASF have been confirmed in the U.S., it is important for all of us to come together and do what we can to prevent ASF from reaching our shores. In this special Feedstuffs Precision Pork podcast, we explore some tools and programs out there that will allow you to plan and take action. 

Joining us for this discussion are Mark Hullsabus and Dr. Jason Hoocker. Mark is the commercial director of pork for Cargill. Prior to joining Cargill, he was part of the leadership team at TriOak Foods. Jason is a swine veterinarian with AMVC. 

Related resources: 
Swine Health Information Center: https://www.swinehealth.org/
National Pork Board: https://www.pork.org/
National Pork Producer’s Council: https://nppc.org/
Secure Pork Supply Plan: https://www.securepork.org/
Agview: https://www.agview.com/
USDA: https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/ourfocus/animalhealth/animal-disease-information/swine-disease-information/african-swine-fever/african-swine-fever

Follow Feedstuffs Precision Pork on your favorite podcast platform or find it on www.Feedstuffs.com and www.NationalHogFarmer.com

 

Uterine prolapse is a serious issue of concern to swine producers. A 2018 Iowa State University study involving 400,000 commercials sows found that vaginal or uterine prolapse accounted for 15% of all sow mortalities during the study period, and earlier research found that all pelvic organ prolapses cost producers roughly $5,220 per 1,000 sows per year.

What hasn’t been as well understood until more recent research is the various factors influencing the incidence of uterine prolapse in the sow herd.

In this episode we talk with Dr. Jenelle Dunkelberger, a geneticist with Topigs Norsvin, about those factors and specifically about recent research into the role genetics play in the incidence of uterine prolapse.

This episode of Feedstuffs In Focus is sponsored by Topigs Norsvin, the second largest swine genetics company in the world. Topigs Norsvin’s unique breeding program is designed to accelerate genetic progress at the customer level by creating innovative products and solutions that benefit the entire pork production chain. To get more information, visit TopigsNorsvin.us. For any questions or additional information about the work Topigs Norsvin has done to implement selection against uterine prolapse, email info@topigsnorsvin.us.