FMD, fever and Florence in Pig Progress 9

African Swine Fever (ASF) is increasingly asking the world’s attention so this issue does have a few articles touching on this. In a review of the recent Leman China Swine Conference, the topic of ASF is therefore key: pages 28-29.

ASF is a complex pig virus

In addition, from various sides there are attempts to find a vaccine against the complex virus African Swine Fever virus. The company ViroVet has its own ideas as to how to tackle this. Freelance journalist Gwendolyn Jones listened to the ideas of the company’s CEO Erwin Blomsma. Page 23

ASF does not only affect domestic pigs but in Belgium it affects the local wild boar population. In this month’s Bigger Picture, we look over the shoulder of the analysis of a wild boar carcass, found in the south of Belgium, to see if the animal died of ASF. Page 18

Vaccination against PCV2

Porcine Circovirus 2 may not be as emerging as it was a few years back, but that does not mean at all that we shouldn’t be worried about the virus. In an insightful contribution, Roman Krejci of Ceva Animal Health explains that various genotypes of PCV2 are known. Still, a PCV2d infection can be controlled by a PCV2a vaccine. Page 24

For PCV2 protection, piglets should be vaccinated before weaning. Photo: Henk Riswick

Control programme against M. hyo

We also look into a bacterial lung problem, being Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae, one of the most frequent bacterial lung problems for pigs. How can a control programme against this infection be optimised? Dr Gabriele Schagemann and Dr Eduardo Fano of Boehringer Ingelheim share their views. Page 26

Foot-and-Mouth Disease & ileitis

In this article we touch on 2 pig diseases simultaneously: Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD) as well as ileitis. Prof Yeonsu Oh of Kangwon University, South Korea, followed the development of Korea’s pig herd to become better prepared against FMD. That development, however, led to the occurrence of more ileitis. How that worked, she describes as from page 6.

Health officials spray disinfectant in an attempt to halt the spread of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in Gimpo, just 29 kilometers west of Seoul, South Korea, on 22 December 2010. Photo: YONHAP

Inflammation – what are the effects in pigs?

Zooming into another part of pig health, we end up at inflammation in sows and pigs. Dr Connie Larson of Zinpro dives into the topic of acute and chronic inflammation and sums up which kind of production challenges can be the result. Page 30

Interview with PIC’s Neal Matthews

Breeding and genetics do get plenty of attention in this edition as well. Correspondent Natalie Knudsen travelled out to the PIC headquarters in Hendersonville, TN, United States to meet Dr Neal Matthews, applied meat scientist. In this month’s interview, he explains what it takes to achieve in the end that perfect piece of pork. Page 14-16

New nucleus farm in the UK

Correspondent Stuart Lumb took a look at a new nucleus farm in the United Kingdom. Breeding company Genesus opened its 1^st location in the UK in Cornwall. What convinced the owners, what did they change and what does the facility look like? Page 20-22

Wet feeds in the Netherlands

In terms of animal feed, there is a useful article by Wim Thielen of the Netherlands Consultative Group of Producers of Wet Livestock Feed (OPNV). He sums up why the Dutch have been using relatively much industrial by-products in their pig business and which are the main re-used ingredients. Pages 10-12

The Netherlands and the surrounding countries have a strong potato processing industry. The skins could be a good basis for pig feed. Photo: Jan Willem Schouten

Columns on pigs, writing and hurricanes

No Pig Progress is complete without its columns. John Gadd finalises his review of writing 3,000 articles on pigs – and how he managed to do that on page 17. Dr Monique Pairis-Garcia looks back to the effect of hurricane Florence this summer, how it affected North Carolina’s swine business and what lessons can be drawn, page 34.