PED Virus Prompts Mexico to Ban U.S. Hogs

Jun 27, 2013

PED Virus Prompts Mexico to Ban U.S. Hogs

By Amanda Brodhagen, Farms.com

Mexico announced earlier this week that it is banning live pigs from the United States following an outbreak of the porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) virus that has been affecting a number of U.S. hog farmers.

The ban is only for live pigs and does not include U.S. pork products. In 2012, the U.S. exported about 55,000 head of live pigs to Mexico. Exports are important for U.S. producers who sell breeding stock and swine genetics to Mexico, but the ban doesn’t have a real impact on U.S. market hogs sales.

Mexican officials are working with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to measure the PED virus. The PED virus is not a mandatory reportable disease under the World Organization for Animal Health.

Mexico has requested the following:

• Requested a list from the USDA on its mitigation strategies;
• Asked for enhanced monitoring of U.S. hog farmers with high pig mortality;
• Pigs imported prior to May 17 be quarantined;
• Inspecting locations where U.S. pigs were brought into Mexico during the last three months

To date, Mexico hasn’t reported any PED cases.

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.