Intrauterine Vaccination Offers Needle-Free Alternative to Protecting Pigs from PEDv

Jul 11, 2022

The Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization reports the use of intrauterine vaccination as an alternative to needles to protect sows, gilts and their piglets from PED is showing promise.Researchers with the Western College of Veterinary Medicine and the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization are exploring the use of intrauterine vaccination as an alternative to needles.

Dr. Pooja Choudhary, a postdoctoral fellow with VIDO, notes the majority of commercial pigs are bred by artificial insemination and the uterus is easily accessible during each reproductive cycle so the idea is to add vaccine into semen bags prior to insemination and deliver it to the uterus where it can generate an immune response, starting with Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea.

Clip-Dr. Pooja Choudhary-Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization:

Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea is viral disease of pigs.It affects both newborn piglets and adult pigs.In newborn pigs it can cause diarrhea, dehydration and high death rate up to 100 percent, while in adult pigs it presents mild symptoms and can cause diarrhea, depression and reduce the productive performance.

To provide protection against PEDv, antibodies are generated in colostrum and milk during pregnancy and it remains a most effective way to protect neonatal suckling piglets.So, our focus for our new vaccine against PEDv is to formulate a vaccine that is able to protect the adult pigs against disease as well as to provide passive protection to suckling piglets via colostrum.

So, we have two major objectives, to protect moms and their piglets.

Dr. Choudhary says preliminary results have shown this approach to be safe.
She says, at this point, researchers are able to formulate vaccines that do not affect sperm function or sow fertility but more work is needed to increase immune response.

Source : Farmscape.ca

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.