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U.S. PEDV Outbreak Quieting Down

U.S. PEDV Outbreak Quieting Down

By Amanda Brodhagen, Farms.com

There are signs that the Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus (PEDV) that swept through swine herds in the United States may be slowing down, according to the National Pork Board.

Since mid-May the virus had spread to 18 states, which caused alarm for many North American hog producers.  There were more than 330 cases of the virus confirmed as of July 8, with the highest concentrations in Iowa and Oklahoma.

“Right now all we have is anecdotal information from the field and it sounds like the spread of the virus has decreased,” explains Dr. Paul Sundberg, the vice president science and technology with the National Pork Board.

While the virus appears to be slowing, hog producers are asked to remain vigilant with implementing biosecurity measures on-farm and identifying sickness in their herds.
 


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Cleaning Sheep Barns & Setting Up Chutes

Video: Cleaning Sheep Barns & Setting Up Chutes

Indoor sheep farming in winter at pre-lambing time requires that, at Ewetopia Farms, we need to clean out the barns and manure in order to keep the sheep pens clean, dry and fresh for the pregnant ewes to stay healthy while indoors in confinement. In today’s vlog, we put fresh bedding into all of the barns and we remove manure from the first groups of ewes due to lamb so that they are all ready for lambs being born in the next few days. Also, in preparation for lambing, we moved one of the sorting chutes to the Coveralls with the replacement ewe lambs. This allows us to do sorting and vaccines more easily with them while the barnyard is snow covered and hard to move sheep safely around in. Additionally, it frees up space for the second groups of pregnant ewes where the chute was initially.