NPPC Looking for Direction on USDA’s New PED Tracking Rules

Apr 28, 2014

By Amanda Brodhagen, Farms.com

The National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) says it’s seeking more information about the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) reporting guidelines to monitor the Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea (PED) virus.

The USDA announced that it would be implementing a new policy requiring mandatory reporting of PED cases.

In addition to reporting efforts, the USDA’s Chief Veterinary Officer John Clifford says that the industry needs to continue to keep up with its on-farm efforts to keep the disease from spreading further.

Reporting cases of PED does not mean stopping the movement of pigs, but the USDA’s main goal is to be able to work with producers and their attending veterinarians to make sure that the best animal care practices are being maintained to slow the spread the disease.

While the USDA announced its new reporting requirements, the industry is still awaiting more details on how to implement the rules. NPPC’s Chief Veterinarian Dr. Liz Wagstrom calls the USDA’s approach “encouraging” but says the industry is concerned about the implementation of the program and ramifications of reporting a positive case of the virus.

More details about the tracking program are expected within the next two to three weeks.

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.