Biosecurity is an important measure that farmers take very seriously in order to keep our animals healthy.
For hog farmers, biosecurity practices start even before the pigs show up on our farm. Once the pigs are here we continue our biosecurity measures by limiting unnecessary visitors, therefore reducing exposure to possible pathogens/diseases.
Our farm is a wean-to-finish swine farm whereby we bring in weaned pigs at 21 days and feed them until they are marketed or finished at about 180 days.
Prior to receiving a group of weaned pigs, we take the time to pressure wash and disinfect the nursery barns where the pigs will be moving into. By doing this, it helps get rid of any possible remnants of disease or pathogens in the barn. This will ensure the pigs get the best possible start of a healthy life on our farm.
Another biosecurity measure that we take is limiting the number of visitors on the farm. Although we love having visitors to our farm to show them our operation and what modern pork production looks like, we try and limit any unnecessary visits.
When visitors do come, we make sure they have not been around any pigs prior to arriving. We also ask our visitors to wear a pair of clean coveralls and boot covers that we provide to ensure they are as clean as possible when touring our facility.
As a hog farmer, I practice these biosecurity precautions to keep my animals healthy. This is important for hog farmers because diseases can travel between hog farms. By taking these measures seriously and keeping my hogs healthy it can also help by not spreading diseases to local hog farms.
DREW KUHN – HOG & GRAIN FARMER, GENOA
