February 2020 – Swine in Minnesota

Senecavirus A continues to be present in the United States swine herd

This week, Dr. Guilherme Preis, graduate student at the University of Minnesota with Drs. Corzo and Vannucci is sharing an update on the prevalence of Senecavirus A in the United States.

Key Points

Senecavirus A continues to present in the US at low levels.
Sow herds are more likely to test positive than growing pig herds.
SVA positive herds tend to have a large number of positive samples.

Implications of early-life indicators for survival rate, subsequent growth performance, and carcass characteristics of commercial pigs

This week, we are presenting a summary of an article published by faculty in the College of Food, Agricultural, and Natural resources Sciences regarding the impact of early-life indicators such as birth-weights on the life of a market pig.

Key Points

As litter size increases with the industry’s drive to increase pig production, the number of pigs with low birthweights increase too
Preweaning growth rate is a critical indicator of a low birthweight pig’s likelihood to reach desired market weight on time
High birthweight is associated with faster growth at all life stages, earlier marketing, and better carcass quality

Batch Farrowing In Large Farms: a podcast

Happy President’s Day to our US-based readers! If you have the chance to stay home and relax today, here is a podcast for you to enjoy!

Podcasts are a perfect way to get caught up with new swine information! We are presenting you the latest episode from “At The Meeting… Honoring Dr. Bob Morrison” in collaboration with SwineCast.

In this episode, Drs. Torremorell, Spronk and Wetzell are hosting Dr. Daryl Olsen, managing partner at AVMC to talk about batch farrowings and how they are coming back even in dense pig production areas.

Understanding whether PRRS viruses in a neighborhood are closely related

This week, the MSHMP team is sharing results from a study looking at how related PRRSv ORF5 sequences from a same area are.

Key Points

28 space-time clustering of PRRSv based on producers’ routine molecular surveillance were identified in the course of 2010-2019.
Being inside or outside a space-time cluster significantly explains the genetic variability of most, but not all cases.
Assessing space, time, and genetic relatedness relationships in PRRSV transmission is complex, and overall trends might miss important case information.

Growing African swine fever virus raises risk considerations

Dr. John Deen fron the University of Minnesota recently wrote a column in the National Hog Farmer about African Swine Fever virus and what the recent reports about virus spread mean for the industry.