Approachable and Practical

Jan 07, 2026

The data was readily available to swine producers.

But the College of Veterinary Medicine Field Epidemiology Team felt more was needed.

A monthly Swine Disease Reporting System (SDRS) podcast has been created and maintained by the Field Epidemiology Team to fill that void.

“While monthly reports and real-time updated dashboards provided detailed data, the podcast turns those findings into conversations that are more approachable and practical for busy professionals,” said Dr. Quyen Thuc Le, research assistant in the Department of Veterinary Diagnostic and Production Animal Medicine. “Because episodes can be listened to while driving, commuting or working, the podcast format helps us reach a wider audience and share timely context from investigators and guest experts.”

The SDRS podcast has been running since April 2022 and is released monthly. Ranging from 20 to 30 minutes in length, the podcasts feature discussion among SDRS investigators and guest experts.

Each episode highlights diagnostic data trends, emerging pathogens and their implications for the swine industry while making complex findings accessible and practical for veterinarians, producers and students.

SDRS monitors and reports diagnostic data for 10 primary swine pathogens. Additionally, over 50 confirmed porcine diseases from tissue cases are covered.

Swine veterinarians, producers, researchers and industry stakeholders from around the globe all tune into the podcast

“By sharing timely insights in this accessible way, the podcast has become a key channel for connecting with the industry and supporting informed decision-marking,” Quyen Le said. “Our goal is to ensure that diagnostic trends are not only available, but also meaningful and useful in everyday decision-making.”

SDRS is a collaborative project funded by competitive grants from the Swine Health Information Center and the USDA. The report aggregates diagnostic data from multiple U.S. veterinary diagnostic laboratories, monitoring across the United States while focusing on states that have more than 2 million pigs.

Source : iastate.edu

Video: 2026 T.K. Cheung Lecture in Animal Science - Dan Weary

T.K. Cheung Lecture in Animal Science: "Using science to assess and improve the welfare of dairy cattle"

Dan Weary is a Professor at the University of British Columbia. Dan did his BSc and MSc at McGill and Doctorate at Oxford before co-founding UBC’s Animal Welfare Program where he now co-directs this active research group. His research focuses on understanding the perspectives of animals and applying these insights to develop methods of assessing animal welfare and improving the lives of animals. His work has helped drive changes in practices (including the adoption of higher milk rations for calves and pain management for disbudding) and housing methods (including the adoption of social housing for pre-weaned calves). He also studies cow comfort and lameness, social interactions among cows, and interactions between cows, human handlers and technologies like automated millking systems that are increasingly used on farms. His presentation will outline key questions in cattle welfare, highlight recent UBC research addressing them, and showcase innovative methods for improving the lives of cattle and their caretakers.