Farmers Encouraged to Identify and Eliminate Reservoirs of Water where Mosquitos Can Breed and Hatch

Apr 18, 2022

The Executive Director of the Swine Health Information Center is encouraging farmers to identify and eliminate reservoirs of water where mosquitos can breed and hatch. An outbreak in Australia of Japanese encephalitis, a virus transmitted by mosquitos than can infect birds, horses, pigs and humans, was the topic of a Swine Health Information Center American Association of Swine Veterinarians webinar in March.

SHIC Executive Director Dr. Paul Sundberg says, while the risk of an infected mosquito entering the United States on a plane through an airport has been determined to be high, the risk of introduction or establishment of the virus in the U.S. is negligible but that high risk of the introduction of an infected mosquito is something that needs to be watched.

Clip-Dr. Paul Sundberg-Swine Health Information Center:

The outbreak in Australia happened very quickly and it happened in areas in which they had not had JEV before. It moved a long way away from the spot where there's traditionally been JEV in very small quantity in those waterfowl birds but it moved a long way away and it happened in four different Australian states very quickly, almost at the same time.

So, one of the issues that we're trying to work with the Australians and assess is exactly what happened. Why did it move so quickly? How did it happen to move across areas that mosquitos would not necessarily traverse? It's to too far for mosquitos to be wind borne or fly from one area to another.

That's really important because, if we can understand what's going on in Australia, we can improve the risk assessment for JEV introduction into the U.S. and maybe do a better job of making sure we're doing everything we can do to prevent it.

Source : Farmscape

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.