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Population Management Best Option for Disease Risk Control in Feral Pigs

The Executive Director of the Swine Health Information Center says population control is the best option for reducing the risk of disease transmission from feral pigs to commercial pigs.
Last month, as part of its effort to prevent foreign animal disease, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced 75 million dollars in funding through the Feral Swine Eradication and Control Pilot Program for the eradication and control of feral pigs in the United States.
Dr. Paul Sundberg, the Executive Director of the Swine Health Information Center says foreign animal diseases, such as Classical Swine Fever and African Swine Fever, could become a real issue should they become endemic in feral swine in the U.S.
 
Clip-Dr. Paul Sundberg-Swine Health Information Center:
 
We know that PRRS, for example, is endemic in feral swine so that remains then a risk of infection to commercial pigs.
We know that in the U.S. Pseudorabies is endemic in feral swine.
That remains a risk to commercial pigs.
For Pseudorabies, we're free of Pseudorabies in the commercial herd but we still have it in the feral pigs.
So our issue there is disease prevalence, disease incidence, disease pressure within feral pigs and how it might spill over into the commercial herd which may affect us for regular production.
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Analysis of greenhouse gas (GHG emissions) in the Canadian swine sector found that CH4 emissions from manure were the largest contributor to the overall emissions, followed by emissions from energy use and crop production.

This innovative project, "Improving Swine Manure-Digestate Management Practices Towards Carbon Neutrality With Net Zero Emission Concepts," from Dr. Rajinikanth Rajagopal, under Swine Cluster 4, seeks to develop strategies to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions.

While the management of manure can be very demanding and expensive for swine operations, it can also be viewed as an opportunity for GHG mitigation, as manure storage is an emission source built and managed by swine producers. Moreover, the majority of CH4 emissions from manure occur during a short period of time in the summer, which can potentially be mitigated with targeted intervention.

In tandem with understanding baseline emissions, Dr. Rajagopal's work focuses on evaluating emission mitigation options. Manure additives have the potential of reducing manure methane emissions. Additives can be deployed relatively quickly, enabling near-term emission reductions while biodigesters are being built. Furthermore, additives can be a long-term solution at farms where biogas is not feasible (e.g., when it’s too far from a central digester). Similarly, after biodigestion, additives can also be used to further reduce emissions from storage to minimize the carbon intensity of the bioenergy.