Hog farm biosecurity is one of those items that cannot be emphasized enough, and that goes for every phase of production.

Looking back on our feeder-to-finish operation of the 1970s and early ’80s, our biosecurity measures left a lot to be desired or were nonexistent. Of course, for the most part, that was the way of the industry at the time.

We bought feeder pigs from a collection of producers who would bring their feeders to a local co-op parking lot, where trucks, pickups and trailers were parked side by side by side. We would scale the running boards or hop on the bumpers to take a look at the assorted feeder pigs. We would repeat that maneuver until we got the number we wanted.

We probably come direct from our barns after morning chores, and then return with our acquired pigs, or return home and wait for them to be delivered. We probably had changed boots for the ride to town, but there was no disinfecting between each truck and trailer that we checked.

Sometimes we bought pigs from a handful of other farmers, so whatever each of those farms had in their barns then got delivered to our barns. These new pigs were not quarantined once they moved into our barns.

Eventually, we did wise up and found a pig supplier who pretty much drove right by our place on his way to the co-op. That saved miles for both of us, and we only would have to deal with one seller and one farm’s environment.

Cutting down exposure to multiple farms and the potential multiple maladies was a biosecurity improvement. However, when it came time to market the hogs, we delivered to a country-buying station and backed up to the same chute as numerous other farm trucks and trailers. This was before the days of truck washes, although we would clean our truck because it would be used for grain later. But if we knew we would be selling another load of hogs, we would save time on washing the truck between loads.

We wondered why the herd health record wasn’t stellar.

Researching biosecurity

With age comes wisdom, but continued herd health issues also make us smarter — eventually.

The hog industry learned a lot when porcine epidemic diarrhea hit the national herd in 2013, but the biosecurity focus was on sow farms. That is a good place to start, and tightening sow farm biosecurity measures proved to be health beneficial.

Now, fast forward to 2022, and the Swine Health Information Center (SHIC), Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research and the Pork Checkoff launched a two-year, $2.3 million Wean-to-Harvest Biosecurity Research Program to look at technologies, protocols and ideas to enhance biosecurity implementation during that phase of production.

In late August, SHIC provided an update on the program’s progress, with a total of 18 projects that had received funding, and some of those projects have been completed.

Transport and on-farm biosecurity takeaways are available on the SHIC website, with examples being:

• An updated inventory for public truck washes in the main hog-producing states is now available for producers.

• Tools are available for producers to automatically track trailers between the farm and the plant, and record the sanitation status of trailers based on truck-wash visits using GPS-based tracking and the CleanTrailer app.

• Animal caretaker motivation and compliance for biosecurity protocols can be positively influenced by rewarding personnel when biosecurity protocols are executed and providing supervisor support and performance feedback to employees on biosecurity practices.

• Manure pumping and land application is a risk for the introduction of PRRSV into farms, with a higher risk to nurseries compared with grow-finish sites.

• The risk of PRRSV introduction through a manure-pumping event increased if conducted on a site where pigs had been placed less than 16 weeks.

For the U.S. swine herd to remain or get healthy, every phase of production of every farm needs to adhere to strict biosecurity measures. Look at what these researchers — and future researchers — discover that may work on your farm to improve herd health.