Agricultural News
State Veterinarian Rod Hall Urges Hog Producers- Large and Small- to Be Vigilant in Efforts to Keep African Swine Fever Out of the US
Tue, 03 Aug 2021 15:04:26 CDT
The State Veterinarian for Oklahoma, Dr. Rod Hall, led a webinar hosted by the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture on Tuesday afternoon about African Swine Fever and it's arrival in the Caribbean. Dr. Hall explained some of the history of ASF and the importance of biosecurity in all sizes of hog operations across the United States. After the webinar, Radio Oklahoma Ag Network Farm Director Ron Hays talked with Dr Hall about how ASF could impact both large and small hog operations found in Oklahoma, if it was found in the continental United States.
Dr. Hall tells Hays that USDA has planned a 72 hour stop movement order all across the US if African Swine Fever is found in the US. That will allow authorities to hopefully put a virtual fence around the outbreak and stop any spread once discovered.
According to a media release from the National Pork Producers Council- "The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced back on July 28th that the Dominican Republic (DR) has confirmed cases of African swine fever (ASF). The cases were confirmed as part of a cooperative surveillance program between the United States and the DR. The United States remains free of ASF an animal disease affecting only pigs with no human health implications and imports no pork, animal feed or other pork production-related products from the Dominican Republic.
"The United States has significantly bolstered biosecurity to protect the U.S. swine herd since ASF broke in China nearly three years ago and began spreading to other parts of the world," said Liz Wagstrom, chief veterinarian with the National Pork Producers Council. "We are thankful for steps taken by the USDA and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), including strengthened border inspection and the implementation of an active surveillance program designed to quickly detect and eradicate ASF. These measures are particularly important now that ASF has been detected in the Western hemisphere for the first time in approximately 40 years."
"Dr. Wagstrom added, "We thank the USDA and CBP for the additional measures they are taking to prevent the spread of ASF to the United States."
"NPPC noted the following measures for U.S. pork producers:
"Use caution when hosting on-farm visitors from an ASF-positive region of the world; follow downtime recommendations from USDA's Plum Island Foreign Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory.
"Review your biosecurity protocols to ensure consistent practice of appropriate safeguards.
"Fill out the Foreign Animal Disease Preparation Checklist found here and enroll in the Secure Pork Supply program.
"Visit with your feed suppliers to discuss the origin of the feed ingredients they are using in your diets."
Dr. Hall and Hays talked about how show pig producers and others in the swine business in Oklahoma need to work on biosecurity to help keep their herds free of this foreign animal dsiease.
Perhaps the wild card in all of this is the feral swine population which is such a problem in Oklahoma. Dr. Hall admits feral hogs simply can't be controlled across Oklahoma and the south and southeast. "That's the worse case if we get in the wild hogs, because that creates problems in multiple levels."
Click on the LISTEN Bar below to hear the conversation between Dr. Hall and Ron. (down below the video box)
To learn more about African Swine Fever, the National Pork Producers Council has an online resource- available here.
On the Oklahoma Department of Ag website- they have a link to a resource on ASF from the Center for Food Security and Public Health- click here for that.
Click on the Play Button in the video box below to watch the full webinar featuring Dr. Rod Hall.
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