The Swine Health Information Center (SHIC) funded a study with the goal of understanding cull sow markets and providing insight for further work on related transport/sow market biosecurity issues. Delivered in 2017, this successful study results in data for further deliverables to safeguard the health of the US swine herd.
Researchers were Benjamin Blair and James Lowe from the Integrated Food Animal Medicine Systems, Department of Veterinary Clinical Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Their mission was to investigate the range of locations sows enter slaughter plants from and how many stops they make on the way to this destination with the goal of prevention and control of animal health emergencies.
Key points from the study:
- Nature of cull movements in the market network is national.
- It is very likely the majority of culls moved direct from the farm of origin to the final collection point.
- Researchers hypothesize that 2.5 to 14 percent of culls moved between multiple collection points prior to arrival at the harvest plant.
- A better understanding of how culls move throughout the network may provide more detail about disease transmission in the cull market in the US.
In their conclusion, Blair and Lowe say the movement of culls between multiple collection points in this study was significant and suggest, as was suspected for PEDV, culls could be an efficient means of transferring diseases across large geographical regions.
With the data from this study as a guide, further work on understanding the way sows and diseases move through the slaughter chain holds great potential for safeguarding the US herd. SHIC will continue its work to investigate these biosecurity issues.
Funded by America’s pork producers to protect and enhance the health of the US swine herd, the Swine Health Information Center focuses its efforts on prevention, preparedness, and response. As a conduit of information and research, SHIC encourages sharing of its publications and research for the benefit of swine health. Forward, reprint, and quote SHIC material freely. For more information, visit http://www.swinehealth.org or contact Dr. Paul Sundberg at psundberg@swinehealth.org.