HIGHLIGHTS AND INSIGHTS Seminar

Those who made it to Lima got to hear from many top swine experts on a host of key pork industry issues relevant today. Here’s a quick look at a few of the presentations.

Battle With Prrs Continues

Presentation by Dr. Giovani Trevisan (top right) and Dr. Guilherme Cezar (bottom right), Iowa State University

Key take-aways:

• As many producers can attest, PRRS cases have continued a slow upward trend over the past three years. The reality today is that producers are often facing more than one strain at a time, which greatly complicates control and was worsen outcomes significantly.

• By staying vigilant against either getting PRRS at all or keeping an outbreak down to two or less strains at a time, producers can reduce piglet loss tremendously, which makes ongoing monitoring and testing critical. Make sure your veterinarian is always testing and aware of any strain that is not typical for your farm. Use of next-generation sequencing seems to promise better understanding of circulating strains and how to control them.

• The Ohio Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory (ADDL) is participating with four other laboratories across the country as part of the Swine Disease Reporting System to find practical solutions to PRRS and other swine diseases as they monitor emerging and endemic pathogens in real-time.

On a related note, the researchers urge producers to participate in the U.S. Swine Health Improvement Plan, which is designed to help respond to an outbreak of African swine fever or classical swine fever now, but could eventually evolve into a PRRS-monitoring and vaccination program. More information can be found at www.usswinehealthimprovementplan.

Is Participating With 4

Laboratories To Find Practical Solutions To Prrs And Other Diseases

NAVIGATING LABOR: VISAS AND MORE

Presentation by Victor Ochoa, SwineWorks

Key take-aways:

• Looking outside of the U.S. for on-farm labor is being driven by many factors such as retiring older domestic worker, a smaller domestic labor pool, and rising non-farm wages, which were all affected by the pandemic.

• Of all work visas, the TN visa is often the most successful for agriculture. It costs $160 and takes between one and three months to process, but can last one to three years with unlimited renewals. A major stipulation, however, is that the applicant hold a bachelor’s degree and be a professional from Mexico or Canada.

• H2-A visas can work for some farms, but holders must return to their country for three months each year. Also, the U.S. Department of Labor oversees this process, unlike those holding TN visas.

• For foreign workers, be very clear up front about housing, transportation, culture, dependents and time off to avoid issues later.

• Regardless of how you get your new employees, it’s critical to get them started off right to ensure that they will stay. Swineworks’ data showed that 60% of new hires leave within the first six months. However, that turnover figure drops to only 10% at the one-year mark and down to only 2% at two years.

FAD: ARE YOU READY?

Presentation by Dr. Dennis Summers, Ohio State Veterinarian

Key take-aways:

• Biosecurity must be viewed in both everyday or “peacetime” and outbreak or “wartime” footings. Most of the time, biosecurity should seek to prevent diseases from getting into a farm, but when a disease strikes, we must be ready to implement strict measures as we’ve seen with highpathogen avian influenza in our state’s poultry industry.