Ever wonder if you really need to vaccinate your swine herd? Or, maybe if you can just get by with partial doses of vaccine? Well, the veterinarians who attended the Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica, Inc. (BIVI) Swine Health Seminar in Omaha, NE got an important lesson from farmers in South America who found out just how important vaccine really is.
Dr. Edgar Diaz, a technical manager for BI, told the group how in Chile, farmers had years when they vaccinated against PCVAD. Then, because of economic issues, they stopped vaccinating. Now, they’ve started vaccinating again and are seeing much better survival rates in their swine herds.
“The reduction in mortality was around 60 percent, and the improvement in prime market pigs was around 30 percent.”
Dr. Diaz says the numbers were enough for the South American operation to go from operating in the red to a profitable company once again. He says data like this is invaluable to BI as it is able to show farmers black and white numbers on how a vaccine program, such as the ones his company offers, can make or break a producer’s bottom line.
It should also be noted that Dr. Diaz filled in at the last minute for his colleague, Gonzalo Castro, who was in Chile taking care of personal business after the tragic earthquake in that country.
You can hear more of my conversation with Dr. Diaz below.
In practically every discussion at the Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica, Inc. (BIVI) Swine Health Seminar in Omaha, NE, the talk has been about Porcine Respiratory and Reproductive Syndrome … better known as PRRS.
It’s estimated that the disease costs pork producers $560 million a year in this country alone. And it’s why Dr. Randy Jones, a veterinarian with Livestock Veterinary Services, has told his fellow vets that the only real option is eliminating the disease altogether.
“If we can’t control it, we need to eradicate it.”
But Dr. Jones says that eradicating it is easier said than done. So in the meantime, producers have to minimize their risks.
“We can’t take [risk] away, but we can minimize it with immunizations and biosecurity.”
He says if they can get outbreaks of PRRS down to once every five years instead of once a year, farmers will save money. Dr. Jones says that eradication is probably still years away, underscoring the importance of good vaccines and good management practices. He adds that while the current PRRS vaccine isn’t a perfect tool, it is a tool that can help cut down on those outbreaks and, hopefully, preserve some bottom lines.
You can hear more of my conversation with Dr. Jones below.
His presentation was entitled “The quagmire of Enzootic Pneumonia: a view from the trenches.” But while that was a mouthful of a title looking at one disease, Dr. James Lowe’s real message to his fellow veterinarians was to take a more holistic approach when looking at the health strategy of a swine herd.
The visiting assistant clinical professor at the University of Illinois and veterinarian with the Carthage Veterinary Service told attendees of the Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica, Inc. (BIVI) Swine Health Seminar in Omaha, NE that they need to think about not just controlling or eliminating the disease-causing organisms, but how do they control overall disease in pigs.
“We really have got to think about that in a holistic approach. We have to think about the system and, really, what tools are available to us.”
He says when vets think about managing diseases, such as PRRS, they really need to use all of the tools in their tool bag, such as how gilts entering the farm are handled and how pigs leaving the farm are taken care of as well. He says the right vaccine strategy in concert with the pig flow in and out of the farm is that holistic approach.
“I don’t care about the agent. What I really want to know is how much disease we have, because that’s what costs us profit.”
He also encourages producers and veterinarians to look at the long-term, not just what they do today and tomorrow.
More of my conversation with Dr. Lowe is available below.
Since learning never seems to stop in the real world, an Iowa State University veterinary diagnostician has advised his fellow veterinarians to do their homework.
Dr. Kent Schwartz was one of the featured speakers at the Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica, Inc. (BIVI) Swine Health Seminar in Omaha, NE, and he told the group that diagnosing endemic diseases is a lot more work than epidemic diseases.
“There’s a lot of risk factors that contribute to it, so assessment requires diligence in diagnostic workup, but moreover, diligence in assessing production practices, parameters and outcomes.”
He says the most common answer to questions regarding biology is: “It depends.” You need to take into account production practices and all the other factors that might affect the health of the herd. Dr. Schwartz says veterinarians must be open to exploring holes in their dogma or in areas that need further investigation. He says that means getting better at field trials. And that’s where BIVI comes in. He says the company has some top-notch field research that has trustworthy results.
“I truly think BI’s a leader in that.”
Dr. Schwartz hopes the veterinarians that have participated in this BIVI Swine Health Seminar will be able to go back and think about how they think about things and challenge their own assumptions.
More of my conversation with Dr. Schwartz is below.
Researchers at Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica, Inc. (BIVI) have unveiled the results of a performance study of their swine vaccine products during BIVI’s Swine Health Seminar in Omaha, NE.
Dr. Keith Bretey, a professional service veterinarian at BI, told the group of veterinarians in attendance that the company’s CircoFLEX and PRRS vaccines were safe to be used concurrently and did not affect the performance of the swine herd.
“Because concurrent use is something we’re seeing a lot of out in the industry today, so we needed some evidence to say, ‘Is that a good idea or not?’ ”
Dr. Bretey says there was a significant improvement in using both of Inglevac’s CircoFLEX and PRSS vaccines.
“In the nursery, the non-vaccinated pigs performed the same as the vaccinated pigs. And what this tells us is, with very little pathogen presence in the nursery, the vaccines did no harm in the nursery.” He says lots of producers ask the question whether the vaccine will hurt the performance of the non-infected pigs. Dr. Bretey says they now have conclusive evidence the vaccines are very non-stressful and smooth to the pigs.
They also found the vaccines were helpful in several finisher performance categories.
You can hear more of my conversation with Dr. Bretey below.
A great opening session at the Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica, Inc. (BIVI) Swine Health Seminar in Omaha, with BIVI’s own Director of Technical Services, Dr. Tyler Holck, talking to attendees about FLEX vaccinology.
Dr. Holck talked about how Ingelvac’s CircoFLEX and MycoFLEX vaccines have nearly three years and 200 million doses of experience in U.S. swine herds. He says that has given the company lots of information on the vaccines.
“When we look at what we have for CircoFLEX, for example, we’ve got over 30 different trials conducted … either efficacy or safety.” And Holck says that can make for a mountain of data (even comparing it to the great mounds of snow Midwesterners have dealt with this winter!). He says BIVI’s goal is to simplify this vast amount of information for producers and veterinarians to make good, interpretive recommendations from that knowledge. Dr. Holck calls it distilling down to the simple side of complex.
“We do look at a lot of different things, but at the end of the day, we’re looking at what’s most economical for the producer.”
Dr. Holck says that really comes down to average daily gain and feed efficiency. He says, for example, a product like CircoFLEX can return on investment $4-5 for every one dollar a producer spends, so it’s too important not to monitor and have all the tools needed.
Hear more of my conversation with Dr. Holck below.
Just got in to Omaha just a few minutes ago to cover the Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica, Inc. (BIVI) Swine Health Seminar. Should be a pretty interesting event with a host of veterinarians here to present and answer questions from the audience. I’ll have more details after things kick off a little later.
In the meantime, I’ll let you see my MOJO (even if you don’t know me that well ).
In my mobile journalism kit, I’ve got my trusty computer, along with the Zoom Handy Recorder H2 audio recorder and my backup emergency camera, the Canon Powershot SD630 (not sure how I can take a picture of the primary camera I’m using for this picture -the Nikon D200). Oh, and I forgot … I have a Flip camera I left in the bag but might use later.
Also, I just started tweeting, so look for me on Twitter @jdavisreporter.
Any way, I’m not quite as tech savvy as Chuck – who REALLY has his MOJO going. But we’ll be able to show you and let you hear from some of the good folks from BIVI who are sponsoring this seminar.
One of the most interesting sessions at the recent PIC Farm Manager Boot Camp in Danville, Indiana was the one entitled “Environmental Requirements for Optimum Wean Finish Performance.”
Ron Rush, who works in health and technical services for PIC, talked to the group of hog farm managers about the importance of the environment … the buildings… that they’ll be raising those pigs in. Rush said that while he can’t give any specific advice without actually seeing an operation’s barns, maintenance is key.
“I’m just trying to get them some basic general rules for ventilation,” he said. Some of the areas he covered was set points for heating and cooling systems, what pigs’ comfort zones are for optimum performance, and areas of concern, such as maintenance and controller errors. He said some of the most common mistakes are dirty fans, louvres and intakes. Plus, most people don’t understand that pigs can handle cooler temperatures.
“People generally under-ventilate pigs to try to conserve heat, but if you understand that pigs can take cooler temperatures you can bring more air to them without having to run your heat.” Rush added that too many managers either set their temperatures and never touch the controls again or they fidget with them every time they walk by a controller. “It’s important to look at those pigs every day and do want they’re telling you to do.”
You can hear more of my conversation with Ron here:
As anybody who has ever raised hogs knows, sometimes you lose some pigs. It’s a fact of life in the business, and while sometimes the reason for losses are obvious, many times you just don’t know and just write it off to things happen.
But what if you could find out more about why you lost that pig so you could avoid losing more. That’s where PIC’s Necropsy Audits come in.
During the PIC seminar this past week in Danville, Indiana, Dr. Amanda Ness, a health assurance veterinarian with PIC, talked about how examining lost pigs can help prevent further losses.
“We go through and necropsy every single dead pig in a system for a specific period of time,” she said. Then, they take take all that information and put it in their database and come back with information and recommendations producers can discuss with their veterinarians. She says early pig care seems to be the biggest cause of pig loss.
She says this necropsy audit is just part of the overall PIC package that managers receive to better manage their herds. “It’s just another customer service we offer to try make our customers as profitable as possible.”
You can read more about the PIC system here. And you can hear my entire conversation with Amanda here:
OK, so it’s not exactly how I remember boot camp from my days in the Air Force, but our good friends at PIC give out a lot of excellent information in their one-day seminars to help hog farm managers (without anyone making you drop and give them 20 push-ups!).
I recently attended the session they put on in Danville, Indiana, videotaping the speakers for later use.
During the program, entitled “Best Cost Production – Key to Success,” much of the focus was on how to optimize pig operations to make sure farmers are getting the most out of every dollar they put into it.
In between sessions, I caught up with Casey Neill, a PIC nutritionist who talked about reducing sow herd feed costs and nutrition programs that maximize performance. He told me that with today’s tight margins, no one can afford to spend too much without getting any more performance.
“With high feed costs you need to know exactly what kind of nutrient specs are in those diets,” said Neill.
He went on to tell me that overfeeding just a half pound too much to sows could cost a producer an extra $50 per sow. He believes the tips the producers get here could make the difference between operating in the red or counting your profits from the black.
“I think everybody can get at least one good idea to help save some money on their operations.”
I’ll have more to post, but in the meantime, you can listen to my conversation with Casey.
Dr. Bob Rowland with Kansas State University (left) and Dr. Max Rodibaugh (center), a swine practitioner from Indiana, were the last two speakers at the Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica’s (BIVI) Area Regional Control of PRRS seminar last week in Chicago. They are pictured here during the final segment of the seminar featuring a roundtable discussion with all presenters.
Max, who serves as chairman of the PRRS Task Force of the American Association of Swine Veterinarians, says building industry cooperation and support is critical to having a plan to control PRRS. “There has been a flurry of activity this summer and fall of different groups working on ideas for PRRS and we see a need to pull those together so we can keep that information in one place and disseminate it to the industry,” he says. The task force is considering a website specifically for PRRS control.
Bob Rowland is a professor at K State’s college of vet medicine and director of the PRRS CAP project which provides funding for PRRS control research through USDA. Ultimately, he says funding for PRRS control has to come from every segment of the industry. “I outlined kind of a NASCAR concept in which we bring together a lot of little legs on a caterpillar and use that to fund a large project,” Rowland says. Even though the swine industry is going through some very tough times right now, Rowland believes it is the ideal time to attack PRRS control as producers change to adapt to the economic situation.
Listen to or download back-to-back interviews with Drs. Rodibaugh and Rowland here:
Her name is Dr. Montserrat Torremorell, but most people just call her Dr. Montse (mont-see). She is an international expert in swine health at the University of Minnesota, joining the College of Veterinary Medicine earlier this year as the Al Leman Chair in Swine Medicine. So, she definitely knows her stuff when it comes to porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome, better known as PRRS.
She was on the program at Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica’s (BIVI) Area Regional Control of PRRS seminar last week in Chicago, just prior to the start of the 2009 International PRRS Symposium. Her topic was building and executing herd plans within ARC projects.
“We do need herd plans in order to move forward on PRRS elimination,” Dr. Montse says. “A herd plan is putting in writing all the steps to take to clean up a farm or clean up an area. What we intend to do with that is to use those documents for communication purposes, to bring everybody on board, and at the same time to identify the limitations we may encounter in the future.”
Listen to or download my interview with Dr. Monste about PRRS control herd plans here:
Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica (BIVI) has taken the lead in promoting game changing Area Regional Control (ARC) of PRRS, or porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome – which costs swine producers an estimated $560 million annually.
“The challenge is we really need to learn to work together,” says Dr. Laura Batista, Knowledge Manager for BIVI’s PRRS Area Solutions Team. “We’re really not competing at all. It has to be by the producers, the veterinarians, the local communities. We just want to help and complement.”
I talked with Laura about the effort during BIVI’s seminar about PRRS control in Chicago. Listen to or download that interview here:
Last year when we interviewed Dr. Bob Morrison with the University of Minnesota at the first PRRS control seminar sponsored by Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica (BIVI) he said they were “just at the beginning of this process to create area and regional PRRS control.”
At the second seminar held last week, Morrison said, “We’re one year further ahead, one year more experience. Really it’s like a snowball moving down a hill in terms of momentum and knowledge.” Morrison reviewed the progress made in trying to control PRRS (porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome) since 2002 when the concept was first introduced.
Listen to or download my interview with Bob Morrison here:
“There is a renewed optimism in our ability to put together area regional control and hopefully eradication programs for this disease and it’s an optimism I haven’t seen in the 20 some years I have been working with this disease,” said Dr. Scott Dee with the Swine Disease Eradication Center in Minnesota. He says the Minnesota project has gotten off to a good start and there is interest from other states in expanding the effort.
Listen to or download my interview with Scott here:
Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica (BIVI) is hosting its second annual “Area Regional Control of PRRS” seminar in Chicago today, prior to the start of the 2009 International PRRS Symposium. The theme this year is “From Ideas to Implementation” – actually getting the concept of area regional control (ARC) on the ground and running.
BIVI has taken an active role in the challenge of managing PRRS (Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome) for the benefit of the swine industry. I talked with BIVI’s Stephan Lange who told me the purpose of today’s seminar is “to get the swine industry together to talk about a ‘game changing’ approach to PRRS control, meaning you step away from individual farm control and really go into area control.”
I will be posting much more from the seminar after I get back in the office, since internet access is very slow here. Listen to or download my interview with Stephan here:
Last week, I was watching the Ellen DeGeneres Show because I knew she would be interviewing Jonathan Safran Foer, the author of “Eating Animals,” a gruesome attack against animal agriculture and a strong testimony for a vegan lifestyle. Recently, the National Pork Board responded to Foer’s statements, especially when he falsely linked H1N1 to a hog farm in North Carolina. Read on to learn more about this ongoing debate. To read the entire article and watch the video, link to the New York Times.
“This swine flu that’s now an epidemic, they’ve been able to trace it back to a farm in North Carolina,” he said. “A hog farm. Nobody knows this. Nobody talks about it. We’ve been told this lie that it came from Mexico.”
But Liz Wagstrom, a staff veterinarian at the National Pork Board, said the claim that the novel 2009 H1N1 virus originally came from swine farms in North Carolina is “patently false.” Researchers at that time did find an H3N2 flu virus in pigs there, she said, but it had a different genetic architecture than the current H1N1 pandemic virus circulating around the world. And those trying to link the H1N1 to factory farming “are using a scare tactic to try to cast a negative light on modern pork production,” Ms. Wagstrom said.
Pigs, like people, sometimes get sick or contract influenza viruses and recover. Indeed, pigs in several other countries previously have contracted the novel H1N1 flu.
As it did in late April after initial reports on the H1N1 flu, NPPC is urging pork producers to tighten their existing biosecurity protocols to protect their pigs from the virus, including restricting public access to barns.
Find out more facts about H1N1 (not swine flu!) from NPPC.
One of the key targets for Novus International is the swine industry and to talk to us about it was Dr. Felipe Navarro. He started out asking each of us what our definition of “sustainable” is. He got a lot of different definitions. He has found that when talking about the subject it’s important to know how most of his audience defines it.
He says that the company is focusing on how to make producers more efficient. That’s a word you hear a lot here at Novus. Ways they can help a producer become more efficient will help their customers stay in business. Genetic improvements have made huge strides but now it’s very important to make sure they have good nutritional feed. He says they’re utilizing the strong scientific profile they have available in their research facilities to create solutions for their customers.
Commodity Classic took place in Anaheim, CA. You'll find all of Chuck, Cindy and Joanna's photos here.
Happy Ag Week
It's time to thank our farmers and ranchers for all their hard work to feed us.
In this week's program I interview Linda Tank, CHS, Inc., who is Chair of the Agriculture Council of America, the group coordinating National Ag Day. Learn more about their activities, especially this week in Washington, DC.
Ever wonder if you really need to vaccinate your swine herd? Or, maybe if you can just get by with partial doses of vaccine? Well, the veterinarians who attended the Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica, Inc. (BIVI) Swine Health Seminar in Omaha, NE got an important lesson from farmers in South America who found out just how important vaccine really is.
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Ron Rush, who works in health and technical services for 
During the 
OK, so it’s not exactly how I remember boot camp from my days in the Air Force, but our good friends at 
In between sessions, I caught up with Casey Neill, a PIC nutritionist who talked about reducing sow herd feed costs and nutrition programs that maximize performance. He told me that with today’s tight margins, no one can afford to spend too much without getting any more performance.
Dr. Bob Rowland with Kansas State University (left) and Dr. Max Rodibaugh (center), a swine practitioner from Indiana, were the last two speakers at the 
Her name is Dr. Montserrat Torremorell, but most people just call her Dr. Montse (mont-see). She is an international expert in swine health at the University of Minnesota, joining the College of Veterinary Medicine earlier this year as the Al Leman Chair in Swine Medicine. So, she definitely knows her stuff when it comes to porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome, better known as PRRS.
Last year when we 
Optimism was the key word at the 
BIVI has taken an active role in the challenge of managing PRRS (Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome) for the benefit of the swine industry. I talked with BIVI’s Stephan Lange who told me the purpose of today’s seminar is “to get the swine industry together to talk about a ‘game changing’ approach to PRRS control, meaning you step away from individual farm control and really go into area control.”
Last week, I was watching the Ellen DeGeneres Show because I knew she would be interviewing Jonathan Safran Foer, the author of “Eating Animals,” a gruesome attack against animal agriculture and a strong testimony for a vegan lifestyle. Recently, the National Pork Board responded to Foer’s statements, especially when he falsely linked H1N1 to a hog farm in North Carolina. Read on to learn more about this ongoing debate. To read the entire article and watch the video, link to the 
One of the key targets for 
It's time to thank our farmers and ranchers for all their hard work to feed us.
