African Swine Fever to be Worse in 2020

With so much focus over the past couple of months on the impact of COVID 19 around the world, there's concern that a deadly hog disease is continuing to run rampant.

 

Some experts now say the African Swine Fever pandemic will be even worse this year than in 2019 as the disease, which only affects pigs, spreads to even more countries. Researchers say ASF is a much stronger virus than COVID 19 in that it can survive in the environment or in food products for weeks and even months. While it's been around for years, ASF arrived in China nearly 2 years ago, and in a short amount of time, killed off what is estimated to be about half of the pig population in China.

 

The numbers might actually be higher but those are the ones being given by China's communist government. The disease is also spreading across parts of Europe, mostly through wild boar which can also be infected. One positive side effect of the current pandemic is reduced international air travel. That's considered one of the prime vectors of introducing the disease to hog barns in North America, through tainted meat products brought from countries where the disease is present.

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.