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An Overview from the 2019 Swine Fever Exercise for Agriculture Response in Iowa

Iowa leads the United States in pork production, housing approximately one-third of the country's swine population. This puts Iowa at great economic risk if an outbreak of African swine fever, a disease that limits international trade opportunities, were to occur anywhere in the United States. To hone emergency response plans to combat an outbreak, the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship in September 2019 participated in a 4-day exercise with representatives from the other 13 top pork-producing states. 

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Season 6, Episode 12: Veterinarians’ Perspectives on Managing Swine Herd Health Across All Phases

Video: Season 6, Episode 12: Veterinarians’ Perspectives on Managing Swine Herd Health Across All Phases

Identifying challenges in swine production and turning them into solutions through research and team development is the focus of this episode. Dr. Christine Mainquist-Whigham of Pillen Family Farms and DNA Genetics shares insights on herd health, biosecurity and trial work to improve pig performance. She also discusses her team’s research philosophy, how they evaluate rate of investment and how they gather feedback from employees to address challenges and maintain herd health across all phases of production. Dr. Carlos Roudergue of Country View Family Farms discusses the growing complexity of swine production, especially as technology increases and employee interaction decreases. He also shares how their workforce is shifting toward more specialized roles to support herd health and efficiency.