Search
Better Farming OntarioBetter PorkBetter Farming Prairies

Better Pork Featured Articles

Better Pork magazine is published bimonthly. After each edition is published, we share featured articles online.


Feature: A good news story in combating the ravages of PRRS

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

By using a new gilt acclimatization protocol and paying strict attention to biosecurity, the Vanden Boogaards have sharply reduced their nursery mortality and learned some lessons for the future

by KATE PROCTER

"There is definitely life after PRRS," says Piet Vanden Boogaard, a participant in the Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome case study project run by the Ontario Pork Industry Council Swine Health Advisory Board. Last featured in the Dec 2007 issue of Better Pork, his is a good news story as Ontario pork producers continue to battle this devastating virus. Vanden Boogaard's 900-head sow herd suffered an outbreak of PRRS in November 2004.  Production in the farrowing barn eventually returned to pre-PRRS levels, but the nursery and finishing pigs suffered from higher mortality rates, slower growth rates and higher cost of production. Dr. Greg Wideman, the herd veterinarian, credits a circovirus vaccination program for reducing the clinical signs of disease in the finishing barn.

The Vanden Boogaards from Gorrie, in Huron County discovered in October 2007 that the PRRS virus strain they had used as a vaccine in 2005 had mutated and they were now fighting two strains of the disease.

Beginning in late 2007, the Vanden Boogaards began a new gilt acclimatization protocol, which they would use throughout 2008. Every gilt was exposed to both strains of the virus, with a three-week cooling down period in between. The gilts would then wait over two months before moving into the herd. The Vanden Boogaards moved batches of 125 gilts in this way every three months.

"Things are going in the right direction!" says Dr. Wideman. "After a summer of tests showing progress, we are focused on preventing further spread of PRRS virus over the high-risk season ahead."

The sow herd started producing piglets which were consistently PRRS negative in the spring of 2008. Piet started cleaning out the nursery in June, once he was satisfied that there was no virus circulating in the farrowing barn.

During July, the weaned pigs went to a bank barn on straw while the nursery was depopulated and cleaned. "I was concerned that the early-weans would not thrive in a straw-based bank barn," says Dr. Wideman. "But Piet and his crew did a very good job of preparing the barn, and the pigs did great."

The nursery mortality rate is now about one per cent, a far cry from the erratic mortality rates that varied from five to 30 per cent during the worst of the outbreak.

Piet moved 1,000 pigs from the nursery to an off-site finishing barn and has only had one death in the first month. The finishing facility located on his home farm has a one per cent mortality rate.

Biosecurity is a top priority for the Vanden Boogaards. They purchased an additional bus for transporting pigs so that each barn has its own bus. They are careful to restrict people movement between barns.

Piet remains optimistic and maintains that the industry has come a long way in the past five years. If he were to break with PRRS again, Piet would make some changes in the way he dealt with the disease. He would make a breeding break part of the elimination protocol and he would do a lot of things faster. "There was a lot of trial and error on our part, but a lot of the guess work is out of it now," he says. BP

Current Issue

April 2025

Better Pork Magazine

Farms.com Swine News

Markets calm as trade war tensions ease with China

Monday, April 28, 2025

This week, global markets have shown signs of calming down as trade tensions between the US and China appear to ease. The US dollar strengthened, while gold prices fell, signaling potential weakening in the gold rally. These topics and many more were discussed in the Ag Commodity Corner+... Read this article online

Final federal election projections

Monday, April 28, 2025

It’s election day in Canada, and people across the country are heading to polling stations to cast their ballots to determine the next government. With that at top mind, let’s look at what three Canadian poll trackers are predicting for tonight’s results. Both The Writ and 338Canada... Read this article online

Brazil’s Safrinha Corn Crop is On Track for a Record

Friday, April 25, 2025

By Aleah Harle, Farms.com Risk Management Intern Expectations for Brazil’s 2024/25 corn crop is looking promising, with a potential record Safrinha corn crop of 98 million metric tons on the horizon! Corn area in Brazil is currently 4% higher than last year, as stronger prices have... Read this article online

Farmers Weigh-In on 2025 Leaders Debate

Friday, April 25, 2025

Users on Agriville.com share their takes on the federal leaders’ debate Following the English-language federal leaders’ debate on April 17, users on Agriville.com offered an unfiltered view of how the night played out from the countryside’s perspective. The conversation revealed a... Read this article online

BF logo

It's farming. And it's better.

 

a Farms.com Company

Subscriptions

Subscriber inquiries, change of address, or USA and international orders, please email: subscriptions@betterfarming.com or call 888-248-4893 x 281.


Article Ideas & Media Releases

Have a story idea or media release? If you want coverage of an ag issue, trend, or company news, please email us.

Follow us on Social Media

 

Sign up to a Farms.com Newsletter

 

DisclaimerPrivacy Policy2025 ©AgMedia Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Back To Top