Threat of ASF Prompts Pork Producers to Refocus on Biosecurity

Oct 11, 2021

The Chair of Swine Innovation Porc's Science Advisory Board says the threat of African Swine Fever has refocussed the attention of pork producers on biosecurity. Biosecurity has been identified by a Swine Innovation Porc Special Research Advisory group as one of six African Swine Fever research priorities.

Dr. Andrew Van Kessel, the Associate Director Research with VIDO-InterVac and the Chair of Swine Innovation Porc's Science Advisory Board, observes ASF has caused producers to re-think their biosecurity plans and confirm their practices will be effective and are being followed.

Clip-Dr. Andrew Van Kessel-VIDO-InterVac:

Reality is African Swine Fever has caused us to think more about feed ingredients, particularly the prevalence of this virus in Asia, the import of lots of feed ingredients from Asia. Those that are arriving from Asia are particularly of concerns and so producers are looking at the sources of feed ingredients, working with their suppliers to make sure they know where those feed ingredients are coming from and ensuring that there's a quarantine period so that the period of time after exposure will result will eventually result in death of the virus and minimise the risk.

The other one on the biosecurity side is the wild boar issue. We have a problem with wild boars an invasive species in North American and certainly in Canada.

Where wild boar are present, they can carry ASF and so there may be some attention for producers who operate facilities in those areas to ensure the grounds are excluding wild boar and the opportunity for transmission to a commercial herd.

Source : Farmscape

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.