GlobalVetLINK® (GVL) is hosting a webinar, Guidance for Industry 209: The Judicious Use of Medically Important Antimicrobial Drugs in Food-Producing Animals and Digital Documentation, on May 6th at 12 pm CDT. [Source: GVL]
Monthly Archives: April 2014
Leman Conference Accepting Abstracts
The organizers of the 2014 Allen D. Leman Swine Conference are now accepting scientific abstracts. Abstracts will be accepted until Friday, July 11. This yearâs process is slightly different than previous years, so please carefully review the abstract guidelines and instructions. Abstracts that do not follow the guidelines will be returned to the author, and will not be accepted. Also note that the committee is limiting the number of accepted abstracts to a maximum of sixty (60) to ensure scientific rigor.
Position Announcement: Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory – Serology Section
The College of Veterinary Medicine’s Department of Veterinary Diagnostic and Production Animal Medicine at Iowa State University invites nominations and applications for a full-time clinical-track or full-time tenure-track faculty position in the Serology Section of our Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory (ISU VDL). Applications for clinical-track will be accepted at the levels of clinician or senior clinician. Applications for tenure-track positions will be accepted at the levels of assistant, associate, or full professor.
Position Announcement: Staff Veterinarian
The Maschhoffs, the largest independent pork producer in the US, is seeking a full time Staff Veterinarian in Iowa.
Save the Date: North American PRRS Symposium
Conference organizers have scheduled the 2014 North American PRRS Symposium for December 5-6, 2014 at the Intercontinental Hotel in Chicago, Illinois.
And the Award for Best Video Goes to…
Are you looking for a family-friendly Friday evening? How about some popcorn, a beverage and a video? You might be interested to know that the latest AASV Heritage Video has just been uploaded to the AASV website. Thanks to the generosity and creativity of Dr. Sarah Probst Miller and Ag Create, you can spend a few minutes learning something about Dr. Scott Dee, his career and family. If you like what you see, you might want to learn about a few more of your colleagues. There are currently 14 Heritage videos uploaded and ready for your viewing pleasure in the AASV Video Library.
PEDv Update: April 23, 2014
CanadaNo new cases have been reported in Canada since April 11.Federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz and Saskatchewan Agriculture Minister Lyle Stewart announced $200,000 in funding, to be matched by Sask Pork, for a contingency fund to help Saskatchewanâs hog industry respond to potential cases of Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea (PED) virus. (http://www.aasv.org/news/story.php?id=7146)In light of the recent announcement from Secretary Vilsack regarding the implementation of reporting requirements for PEDv we wanted to bring AASV members up to date about our interactions with USDA on this issue. Since the PEDv outbreak began, there have been ongoing discussions about what role USDA should play in emerging production disease outbreaks. In response to suggestions that USDA was considering actions the agency could implement to address PEDv, AASV, along with NPB and NPPC, provided USDA with a list of proposed activities we felt USDA could undertake to support the efforts of the industry and benefit pork producers. To date, USDA has not responded to those suggestions.
AASV Annual Meeting Video – Dr. R.B. Baker
The next of the 2014 AASV Annual Meeting presentations is now available to watch online. Closing out the Monday General Session, Dr. R.B. “Butch” Baker presented “Lessons Learned and Future Applications” from his 45 years with the AASV. AASV members may view videos from keynote and general sessions of the AASV Annual Meeting going back to 2005 at https://www.aasv.org/members/only/video/
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack Announces Additional USDA Actions to Combat Spread of Diseases Among U.S. Pork Producers
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced April 18, 2014 that in an effort to further enhance the biosecurity and health of the US swine herd while maintaining movement of pigs in the US, the USDA will require reporting of Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus (PEDv) and Swine Delta Coronavirus in order to slow the spread of this disease across the United States. USDA is taking this latest action due to the devastating effect on swine health since it was first confirmed in the country last year even though PEDv it is not a reportable disease under international standards. PEDv only affects pigs and does not pose a risk to people and is not a food safety concern. [Source: USDA News Release]
Interactive Effects of Distillers Dried Grains with Solubles and Housing System on Reproductive Performance and Longevity of Sows Over Three Reproductive Cycles
An experiment was conducted to evaluate the interactive effects of dietary distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) in sow diets and housing systems on reproductive performance and longevity. Sows (311 for parity 0 and 90 for parity 1) were assigned randomly within parity to 1 of 4 treatments and maintained on these treatments for up to 3 reproductive cycles. Sows were fed either fortified cornâsoybean meal control diets (CON) during gestation and lactation or diets containing 40% DDGS in gestation and 20% DDGS in lactation and were housed either in individual stalls or group pens with electronic sow feeders during gestation. Sows fed DDGS had smaller (P < 0.05) litter size (born alive, 11.0 vs. 11.6; weaning, 9.8 vs. 10.2) and had more (P < 0.05) stillborns (0.9 vs. 0.7) than sows fed CON. Litters nursing sows fed DDGS gained less weight (P < 0.01) than litters nursing sows fed CON (47.8 vs. 49.8 kg, respectively). Group-housed sows tended to farrow smaller litters (born alive, 11.0 vs. 11.5; P < 0.10) and had fewer pigs at weaning (9.9 vs. 10.2; P < 0.05) compared with stall-housed sows. Litters from group-housed sows tended (P < 0.10) to gain less weight while suckling than those from stall-housed sows (48.3 vs. 49.4 kg, respectively). Diet did not affect the percentage of sows that completed each successive reproductive cycle. Stall housing tended to increase (P = 0.06) the completion rate of sows at the second reproductive cycle (80.0 vs. 68.2%) and increased (P < 0.05) the completion rate of sows in the third reproductive cycle (68.9 vs. 55.8%) compared with group housing. Sows fed DDGS produced fewer (P < 0.05) live-born pigs (26.2 vs. 27.4) and tended (P < 0.10) to have fewer pigs weaned (23.7 vs. 24.5) over 3 reproductive cycles compared with sows fed CON. Stall-housed sows farrowed more (P < 0.05) total pigs (30.1 vs. 26.7) and live pigs (28.4 vs. 25.2) and had more weaned pigs (25.2 vs. 23.1) compared with group-housed sows over 3 reproductive cycles. In conclusion, long-term feeding of DDGS decreased litter size and sow productivity but did not affect sow longevity. Long-term housing of sows in group pens decreased litter size, sow longevity, and sow productivity. The detrimental effects of housing pregnant sows in pens were most notable when sows were fed cornâsoybean meal-based diets compared with DDGS diets.