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Pork producers keeping an eye on El Nino

This will be the third winter pork producers will have to take precautions against the Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea virus (PEDV) and the director of the Indiana state Board of Animal Health says all eyes are on the weather.  Dr. Bret Marsh says they’re keeping a close watch on the El Nino.  “We’re watching what temperatures might be,” he says.  “We know this virus survives longer in the environment when it is cooler and damp.  And that may be a contributor and one the reasons we’re taking a close look at biosecurity.”

He tells Brownfield PEDv didn’t hit herds as hard in 2015 as it did in the previous year.

Marsh says there is concern that herd immunity to the virus has weakened and producers should be mindful the disease is still out there.  “A number of discussions of biosecurity practices have been happening,” he says.  “I’ve been on a number of farms where practices have changed significantly over the last couple of years.  We have surveillance ongoing with testing through our own diagnostics laboratory at Purdue.”

But, he says biosecurity still needs to be producers’ number one focus in preventing any foreign animal disease from entering their farm.