[Roundtable] PRRS and PED - keeping your farm and your neighbor's farm safe

The colder weather this time of the year is not only harder on us, but also harder on our pigs. One issue is that we typically see increased incidences of virus outbreaks on farms such as PRRS and PED. In today’s roundtable episode with Dr. Ritter from Cargill and Dr. Strobel and Dr. Yeske from the Swine Vet Center, they talk about ways we can mitigate the effects of PRRS and PED on our farms and keep it from spreading if we already have it.

What you'll learn:

1. PRRS and PED in the current season
2. Current common PRRS strains
3. What should producers be thinking about from a biosecurity standpoint?
4. Feed as a fomite for viruses
5. Ingredients, feed mills, and feed delivery trucks as risk factors
6. Managing the feed risk
7. Holding times on ingredients
8. Washing disinfecting trucks
9. Mitigants
10. Models and issues with determining efficacy of disinfectant studies
11. Key measures and criteria for efficacy
12. Setting up a field study with a feed mitigant
13. When should you use a feed mitigant?
14. Key points

Meet the guests: With 30+ years of swine veterinary experience, Dr. Paul Yeske has gained recognition for his work with disease management and elimination. He also has earned two veterinary awards — the Swine Practitioner of the Year in 1998, and was selected to give the Howard Dunne Memorial Lecture in 1996 . Today, Paul is a senior member of the veterinary team at the Swine Vet Center (SVC), which includes 15 veterinarians. He attended Iowa State University where he stayed until he earned his Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine in 1985. His first job was at a large group practice, until he switched to SVC.

Ryan Strobel knew at a pretty young age that he wanted to work with livestock. He credits his interest in the industry with growing up on a hog and crop farm near Pemberton, Minnesota, and having an uncle who is a veterinarian with setting the seed for his future. He raised livestock in 4-H and later judged livestock as an undergraduate at the University of Minnesota. While at the university’s veterinary school, Ryan worked twice at the Swine Vet Center (SVC) — a short summer internship after his first year and an externship in his fourth year. After receiving his Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine in 2017, Ryan worked at another clinic until 2018, when he moved to SVC.

Dr. Matt Ritter works closely with Cargill's nutrition teams, marketing personnel, sales force, support, and staff to deliver best-in-class nutritional solutions and services to customers. He graduated with his B.S. and M.S. in Animal Science from Michigan State University before attending the University of Illinois to receive his Ph.D. in Animal Sciences. He's currently Director, Nutrition and Technical Services at Cargill.