# -r r » * *• « »
AMY J. NESSELRODT, DVM
USDA Veterinary Medical
Officer
The Pennsylvania Pseudorabies
Advisory Committee is moving
forward in its plans to eradicate
Pseudorabies virus (PRV) from
Pennsylvania hogs. The goal is to
have each producer put on a written
herd plan. The herd plan will be
chosen to fit the needs of the indivi
dual producer with the assistance
of Dr. Amy Nesselrodt. pseudora
bies coordinator, and the pro
ducer's private veterinarian.
The first step is to set up a herd
plan to determine the prevelance of
PRV (or number of positive ani
mals) in the herd. If the herd has
been on quarantine for longer than
six months and/or has been vacci
nating for a period of time, it would
be advisable to do a statistical test
of the herd. There is a chance that
the herd may already be free of the
disease or it may only have a very
small number of positive animals.
The next step is to choose from
one of the basic Livestock Conser
vation Institute (LCI) herd plans
and to modify the plan according to
the needs of the individual produc
er. The first plan is called "Phased
Test and Removal". This can be
done with or without vaccination,
though there is an increased risk of
reinfection if vaccination is not
used. The advantage of this plan is
that it minimizes interruption of
pig flow. The disadvantage of this
plan is that positive pigs stay in the
herd longer, and can be a source of
reinfection. The plan calls for test
ing the breeding herd and a sample
of the finishers, then vaccinating
the entire herd. Positive boars are
removed immediately and positive
sows are removed either after
weaning or as soon as possible.
They are then replaced with nega
tive vaccinated gilts. After a tur-
HOT
June 12th
Ae.-O’l'
0 e^ S
model T4OS2
roofing stapler
What The Name Says & A Whole Lot More!
150 Lincoln Avc. MflTilM \ Mon.-Thurs. 6:30*5
Rdnhoidc, pa - » H ~. U t z~9 Friday 6:30-8
MBiINHOLPS Saturday 7:30-3
Ha UWM * Mllt-WOKK INC.
A Plan For Pseudorabies Eradication
Dear Pennsylvania
Producer
I am the Federal Veterina
rian with USDA, APHIS, Vet
erinary Services who has been
assigned to work with the PA
Pseudorabies Advisory Com
mittee. Recently, we have
been drawing up our plans for
how we are going to eradicate
Pseudorabies Virus from PA
hogs. Presently, it is our goal
to have every quarantined
herd signed up for a herd plan.
nover of the known positive ani
mals has occurred, the herd should
be retested and then state regula
tions should be followed for quar
antine removal.
Another plan, "Immediate Test
and Removal", can be very suc
cessful when 20% or less of the
herd is infected, and there is no
infection in the grower or finisher
pens. In this case, all the positive
animals are removed to slaughter
or a quarantined feedloL The entire
herd is then vaccinated. A month
after the positive hogs have been
removed from the herd, a statistical
sample of the breeding animals and
their offspring over 16 weeks of
age are tested. If the test is nega
tive, then state regulations should
be followed to get the herd off of
quarantine.
"Offspring Segregation" is a
useful plan in herds where at least 6
months have past since a clinical
outbreak of PRV has occurred and/
or in herds that have subclinical
infections. There are a couple var
iations of this method but the basic
idea is to wean new gilts off the
sow before they have a chance to
become infected. Then the gilts ate
Bostitch
DOG DAY
• 10 am - 2:30 pm
It’S
SPECIAL PRICING
on selected
Bostitch Fasteners
SZBBOSTITCH
helps you do things right.®
(215) 267-5400
Open Letter To Pennsylvania Pork Producers
An
A herd plan is an individual
"toad map" of how each pro
ducer will work to remove
Pseudorabies' from his herd
and thus get off of quarantine.
A herd plan is selected based
on the type of operation, the
facilities, the value of the
bloodlines, the disease profile
of the herd, the number of
pseudorabies positive animal
in the herd, the use of vaccina
tion, the commitment and
management ability of the per
sonnel, and other factors.
Pork
raised in isolated facilities. Before
vaccinated gilts are moved into the
regular nursery or grower pens, the
areas will have to be free of posi
tive hogs and cleaned and disin
fected. This method is labor and
space intensive but works well.
The last basic type of herd plan
is not a popular option and that is
"DepopulationNßepopulation".
Due to the cost and down time
involved, this is not a method most
producers will choose. However,
in some cases it can be profitable,
such as in a herd where a lot of
other disease problems are present
or in a herd that needs to improve
its genetic base.
Along with any basic herd plan
chosen, biosecurity issues and
management factors must be
addressed. Biosecurity issues
include, but are not limited to, foot
baths, limited visitor access, wild
life exposure, traffic on and off the
farm, people and pig flow, and
handling of purchased additions.
New additions should be isolated
for 21-30 days and sliould be both
tested .and vaccinated fra* PRV
before they are added to the herd.
Management factors to be
*o?°* ff
roofing nailer
Lancaster Farming. Saturday. Jtina 8,1191-A37
I plan to mail a packet of
information to each quaran
tined producer in early June
and begin visiting them on a
one-on-one basis a few weeks
later. I will not be entering the
animal facilities. I plan on
beginning with the herds most
recently put on quarantine and
working my way down the list.
Each herd plan I write will
then be sent to the herd veter
inarian for his or her approval
before it is considered com
plete. Even then it will not be
addressed include vaccination, the
facilities, swine handling, moving
to all in/all out, etc. It is important
to remember that vaccination is not
a "cure all". Vaccine is helpful to
decrease or eliminate clinical signs
of the disease and it helps decrease
the amount of virus shed. Vaccine
however does not prevent entry of
virus into the herd nor totally pre
vent spread within an infected
herd. With the development of the
differential vaccine, it is one of our
best tools as long as the limits are
understood.
Most Lancaster County herds
SUM
considered the "final word"
but will be subject to change if
needed.
Hopefully we can all work
together and getting Pseudoca
bies out of our PA hogs will no
longer be just a dream but it
will become a realistic goal. I
am excited about this program
and I look forward to receiv
ing your support
Sincerely,
Amy J, Nesselrodt DVM
Veterinary Services
will probably employ vaccination
with phased test and removal.
While perhaps the most realistic
method for these producers, it is
also not without some risk due to
possible circulation of virus within
the herd. Therefore, it is important
to keep goals realistic, stay flexi
ble, and practice all forms of biose
curity. Area spread of PRV is
always possible as long as there ate
infected herds in PA, but if every
one works together at the same
time to get cleaned up, the chance
of success will be much greater.
KVERNELAND
6055 Corporate Drive
East Syracuse, NY 13057
Phone (315) 463-5276
FAX (315) 463-1596
KVERNELAND
VARIOMAT
SYSTEM
The new plow-generation
from Kverneland.
The Kverneland Vario
mat Plow furrow width
adjustment that will lit
your needs whether it is
conservation or conven-
tional plowing.
From a two bottom
mounted to a twelve bot-
tom pull type, there is a
Kverneland Plow to
match those special con
ditions. If your prefer
ence is for semi mount,
on land hitch, revers
ible mounted or revers
ible semi mounted
Kverneland has it.
When you add in the
Kverneland leaf spring
reset, state of the art
heat treating and low
draft bottoms you have
an unbeatable combina
tion of versatility and
quality.