Pork Producers Advised to Focus on Biosecurity During Manure Application Season

The Swine Health Information Center is advising pork producers to step up their focus on biosecurity heading into the fall manure application season.As part of its October eNewsletter the Swine Health Information Center has released its monthly domestic and global swine disease monitoring reports.

SHIC Associate Director Dr. Lisa Becton says PRRS detection has remained relatively stable but we are seeing higher than expected activity in Iowa, Oklahoma and South Dakota, PED submissions have remained low but we've seen an increase in positive cases in Kansas, specifically in wean to harvest pigs, we have seen increases in Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae in wean to harvest and we see an increase in influenza case submissions, also in wean to harvest.

Quote-Dr. Lisa Becton-Swine Health Information Center:

Fall and winter bring a couple of different things. First, we are going through harvest and after harvest many producers will look at this as a prime time for manure application and recent research has shown that manure application can be associated with increased risk of PRRS outbreaks on farms and so it's very important to asses a complete biosecurity picture when looking at manure application.

Something to keep in mind is making sure that equipment that is used on any farm is cleaned and disinfected prior to entry but then also at exit if it has to go to another farm.If there's the ability to have down time of equipment that's important but then also to make sure personnel that are handling manure equipment are staying away from farms and also wearing separate clothing and footwear that don't go inside a barn. That's one area for focus.

The other is to keep in mind that, with colder temperatures, a lot of our pathogens can have an increased survivability versus when we seem them during the summer warm months and so paying attention to sanitation, cleaning and disinfection and allowing equipment to dry are all going to be top of mind.

SHIC's domestic and global swine disease monitoring reports can be accessed at swinehealth.org.