There are a number of vaccines currently on the market for hog producers to control PCV2 and associated diseases. The question for producers is, which one is best for them, especially given today’s challenging market for the hog industry.
Some of the vaccines are single dose, some require more than one injection – and most are designed for healthy pigs over the age of 3-4 weeks. A number of studies have been done on the vaccines available and what producers can expect when using them. Some of those studies were presented at the Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica Swine Health Seminar in Dallas on Friday.
Dr. John Waddell with Sutton Veterinary Clinic in Sutton, NE presented his findings on the evaluation of Ingelvac Circoflex on growth performance of pigs in a subclinical PCVAD herd. “We found about a tenth of a day average daily gain in the finishing phase, which equates to about 8-10 pounds at finishing,” he said.
Listen to an interview with Dr. Waddell here: bivi-09-dallas-waddell.mp3
Dr. Paul Yeske with the Swine Vet Center in Minnesota talked about the effect of different PCV2 vaccine protocols on weaned pig performance to slaughter weight. “We learned that the vaccination for PCVAD is effective no matter which vaccine they use,” Yeske said. The main difference they found was that the single dose vaccines resulted in less treatments overall for the animals. “Certainly anytime we can reduce labor is helpful for producers.”
Listen to an interview with Dr. Yeske here: bivi-09-dallas-yeske.mp3
Dr. Joel Nerem with Minnesota’s Pipestone Veterinary Clinic compared the efficacy of a couple of different vaccines on the market, and once again found very little significant difference between them. “What we found was that the one dose CircoFLEX at weaning was equivalent to the two-dose product we were on,” Dr. Nerem said. But a big difference they did find was in mortality, “The CircoFLEX was the only treatment that was statistically different from controls.”
Listen to an interview with Dr. Nerem here: bivi-09-dallas-nerem.mp3
Download the interviews here:
Dr. John Waddell
Dr. Paul Yeske
Dr. Joel Nerem
Porcine circovirus type 2 – better known in the swine world as PCV2 – has become increasingly important for hog producers to control through the use of vaccines. 
After just getting home I saw that my copy of the Jeff Jarvis book, 
The Dixie Deer Classic will end tomorrow but I won’t be here. I finished up my work with the Drive Green Tractor Utility Show this afternoon. 
Anyway, I found an article at the Poynter Institute titled, “
After a busy week of tests and projects, I finally headed out of Brookings to start SDSU’s Spring Break. While I’m not headed to Cancun like a lot of my classmates, I have a week of fun things planned to do, both work and play. While I was on my way home yesterday, I stopped at Schlagel Farms to work on a story about their century old farm. Here is owner of the homestead, Mona Schlagel, at the original site near Raymond, S.D.
Established in 1899, the 160 acres of this plot was established during the Homestead Act. The Homestead Act allowed for a pioneer to own the land they settled on after five years if they built a house on it, plowed the land, dug up a well and actually lived there. The Schlagel family traveled from Illinois to South Dakota to pursue a new life, and in 1906, the homestead was finally theirs. Since then, this plot of land has continued to stay in the Schlagel family. In 2008, they were recognized at the South Dakota State Fair for their century farm.
Who would have thought that an aviation museum would be a good venue for a party? But the 
One of the very cool things was a great place for kids to play while the adults mingled. They even got their own special menu of pizza and chicken nuggets! 
The president and COO of 
The world faces some serious challenges… as pointed out in a Farm Foundation report released last December (see