World Pork Expo: PEDv Update - Not Nearly As Severe in 2015
ANALYSIS - Dr. Howard Hill, past president of the National Pork Producers Council, provides a US industry update on Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus (PEDv), reports Sarah Mikesell live from the World Pork Expo in Des Moines, Iowa, USA.
5 June 2015
2 minute read
By: US producers have seen a bit of a reprieve from PEDv and aren't seeing the significant losses like the industry experienced in 2014.
"We do have outbreaks this year, but most of the outbreaks have occurred in finishers rather than sow farms like they were last year," said Dr. Hill. "Most of those are occurring after the first cut - after we take the first pigs to market - and we believe that the trucks are being contaminated at the interface between the truck and the plant and bringing it back to those farms."
Dr. Hill said people are convinced that contaminated feed may have played a significant role in the 2014 outbreaks, even at high security facilities. Producers are now taking high biosecurity measures with their feed.
Despite the fluctuations in the pork supply due to PEDv, pork production is up 2 to 4 per cent which has pressured hog prices, and supply is not expected to be an issue in 2015.
