PED Virus Cases Grow

Jul 18, 2013

U.S. Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus Cases Rise

By Amanda Brodhagen, Farms.com

A new report issued by the National Pork Board says there were more than 330 confirmed cases of the pig virus – porcine epidemic diarrhea, spanning15 U.S. states, with the highest concentrations in Iowa and Oklahoma. This was last updated July 8. The first PED virus case was detected in May.

The virus isn’t new and has been discovered in many other countries, especially in China, South Korea, Japan and along with several European countries. It is classified as a production-related virus and is not considered a trade-restricting disease.

Hog producers should be vigilant if they see signs of illness in their pigs and notify their herd veterinarian imminently. Laboratory testing is the only way to determine if PED virus is present. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Swine Veterinarians, and the National Pork Board have been closely monitoring the disease and advising producers on ways to prevent the disease from spreading.

More information about PED and disease updates can be found on the American Association of Swine Veterinarians website.

Video: Cleaning Sheep Barns & Setting Up Chutes

Indoor sheep farming in winter at pre-lambing time requires that, at Ewetopia Farms, we need to clean out the barns and manure in order to keep the sheep pens clean, dry and fresh for the pregnant ewes to stay healthy while indoors in confinement. In today’s vlog, we put fresh bedding into all of the barns and we remove manure from the first groups of ewes due to lamb so that they are all ready for lambs being born in the next few days. Also, in preparation for lambing, we moved one of the sorting chutes to the Coveralls with the replacement ewe lambs. This allows us to do sorting and vaccines more easily with them while the barnyard is snow covered and hard to move sheep safely around in. Additionally, it frees up space for the second groups of pregnant ewes where the chute was initially.