Farmscape for March 7, 2025

Research conducted by North Carolina State University has shown swine transport vehicle rerouting to be an effective strategy to help reduce the number of contacts between farms, reducing the potential for disease transmission.
A North Carolina State University study, conducted through the Swine Health Information Center Wean-to-Harvest Biosecurity Research Program, in partnership with the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research and Pork Checkoff, examined the effectiveness of rerouting swine transport vehicles to reduce the risk of disease transmission between farms.
SHIC Associate Director Dr. Lisa Becton says researchers used computer modeling to assess data from a variety of sources to look at vehicle movements to slaughter, to or between farms, to cleaning and disinfection stations, to feed mills and to parking to identify and evaluate contacts between infected and noninfected farms.

Quote-Dr. Lisa Becton-Swine Health Information Center:
The project identified that implementing a rerouting system could lead to a decrease in the number of at-risk contacts between farms.
What does that mean?
That means there's a reduction in the potential for spreading a disease and so that means there was reduced interaction between farms from other networks and network communities that may exist outside of the normal within farm operations.
It does highlight that, even with contact potential, cleaning and disinfection and rerouting can really help to reduce the potential spread and risk for disease transmission.
This information can be used by producers and their veterinarians and even transport staff and other transporters to look at how can each individual system asses their level of transportation and what are the things that they can do, even through rerouting and increased cleaning and disinfection, to reduce their own risk and chance of disease spread.

The full report can be accessed through the Swine Health Information Center's February eNewletter which can be found at swinehealth.org.
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Bruce Cochrane.

       *Farmscape is produced on behalf of North America’s pork producers