"In this low-margin time where markets and pig prices are today, it's ever important for our producers to really look at the whole group of pigs and what their goal is with end of production to maximize your existing resources and be as efficient as possible to maximize your return on investment," said Abby Harding, consulting veterinarian with Lowe Consulting.

Her recommendation is for veterinarians to work with producers to evaluate existing protocols that might have been going for the past 8 or 10 years but haven't been reviewed for operation and production efficiency recently.

For example, it's looking at vaccine and/or biosecurity protocols that might not be adding the most value to an individual operation. The goal is to utilize your employees, staff and resources to their full potential to maximize return on investment.

"In theory, it's things that we should be looking at all the time because this is our producer's way of producing a living," Dr. Harding said. "Especially in times when you're not coming off of the high tide times of PEDv prices, we're really looking to maximize what little margin there is out there and to make sure that we're utilizing all of our resources and assets exactly how we intend them to be used."