The Long Road

(Fall in Michigan)

This has taken me awhile to figure out how to write, since it is always harder to talk about the bad things than the good things.  Like many other farms, we take pride in the fact that we raise pigs that are healthy and hardy.  We work hard to keep it that way, but sometimes things don't go as planned.  Over the past month, our farm has a been battling the Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS).  This disease affects pigs all over the country, and is slightly different on every farm, but it is not transferable to humans, nor does it cause a food safety problem.  It attacks pigs of all ages, and can be transported through the air, or through body fluids.  Over the next four months (one birthing cycle)  we will lose about half of our production.  After that, hopefully we will get some herd immunity and start to lose fewer pigs.

PRRS is one of the five major diseases that have hit the pork industry in the last 30 years.  Most producers in the country have dealt with it at one time or another, and up until recently, we haven't ever been challenged by it.  The disease isn't new, so our vet has a lot of experience on how to take care of it, and is working with us daily to make the best decisions for our herd.   How are we fighting this now?   First, we are working hard to keep everything as clean as possible.  We have done this everyday, year round, for as long as I can remember, but we are making sure to pay attention to the details and not miss anything by assuming we do it already.   Next, we are vaccinating all of the breeding animals with a modified live virus to bolster their immunity.  Each of our locations with breeding animals have tested positive for the disease, but have no clinical signs at 3 of the 4. We are hoping that by vaccinating our sows and boars we can stay ahead of the disease a little bit and save some of our baby piglets, who are most susceptible if mom doesn't have antibodies to pass on to fight it off. Vaccinating is hard work, and not very much fun for handlers or animals, but it gives us all the best shot at coming through the outbreak.  Antibiotics are not being used to treat PRRS, because it is viral and will not respond.  However, one stress on the pigs may cause something else to flair up, so as the pigs get older they may have to receive treatment for pneumonia, although we don't know that yet.

We are still early in the process of dealing with the disease, so there is a lot we don't know yet.  We aren't exactly sure who will be hit the hardest, or how many pigs we will lose.  So far, according to our vet, we have a pretty mild case, but it seems pretty severe to us.  Once we get our herd immunity established, we will start working to eradicate the disease on our farms.  It will take time to get back to where we once were, but it is something we will work towards.  Out farm isn't the first, nor will it be the last to deal with PRRS.