Newborn piglets are the most vulnerable to porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) through their first 10 to 14 days of life.
Pork production in Kentucky provides a major source of income to the agriculture industry. According to information from Kentucky Farm Bureau (KFB) and based on numbers from the National Agricultural Statistics Service, the state ranks 19th in the nation in swine production, with 315,000 head at a cash receipt value of more than $115 million.
However, the recent onset of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) has put the 750 swine producers in the state on alert to watch their herds and do all that is necessary to make sure their animals are safe.
Over the past year, PEDV has come into the country, spread to 30 states and become one of the biggest concerns for pork producers and the pork industry itself.
According to the American Association of Swine Veterinarians (AASV), an acute outbreak of PEDV can cause severe diarrhea, vomiting and high morbidity (often 100 percent) in young pigs.
Richard Coffey, a swine specialist at the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, Food and Environment’s extension service, said the virus has been in areas such as Great Britain and Asia since the early 1970s, but the first U.S. case that he is aware of was diagnosed in May of 2013.
“The biggest problem with it is there are really no vaccines for it and really no good treatment options once you break with it,” he said. “About the only thing producers will do to help shorten the amount of time they’re going to have that virus really be a problem, [will be] something called feedback.”
Coffey said that practice involves taking feces or some of the intestines from the mortalities and feeding it back to sows to get the animals inoculated with the virus to build up antibodies — antibodies that can be passed on to newborn pigs.
Newborn piglets are the most vulnerable to the disease through their first 10 to 14 days of life.
He said by utilizing the feedback practice, the amount of time the virus will run through the herd will be shortened.
“But it’s still going to be a four-, five- or six-week process — depending on the size of the herd — for it to really run its course, even with doing everything you can to get those sows inoculated and get some antibody production going on,” he said.
The practice of feedback drew fire from the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) after an “undercover video” was released by the organization showing a Kentucky producer engaging in the practice after the disease was discovered on his farm. HSUS denounced the practice, noting that it could be illegal.
Not so, said Steven Henry, a leading national expert in swine medicine. He said there is nothing illegal about the feedback process and the act is one that has long been accepted, especially since there is no treatment or vaccine for a diarrhea virus like PEDV.
“We use the tools Mother Nature gave us,” he said. Henry also said the producer in question was doing the only thing he could do to save his other pigs.
“He was doing the only humane, good-care step available, and doing it with consideration of doing it properly. That was exactly what he should have been doing,” he said.
As the 2014 General Assembly came to an end, an amendment introduced in the state Senate and attached to House Bill 222, which dealt with prohibiting certain euthanasia methods at animal shelters, would have prohibited video taping or photographs from being taken on farms without a farmer’s permission.
The tactic of “undercover video taping” has long been used by animal rights activists as a way to show what they consider to be abuse cases in many agriculture settings.
Matthew Dominguez, the public policy manager of farm animal protection for HSUS, said these types of undercover investigations are necessary to bring to light cases of animal abuse.
“The issue with these bills and the way they are being drafted is not so much about the actual illegal activity, but what we have an issue with is putting road blocks or putting in barriers to do undercover investigations. What we do know [is], when we do these investigations, we have found egregious animal cruelty and often times, illegal activity,” he said.
Dominguez added that the HSUS does not condone illegal trespassing or breaking in to these facilities.
The KFB supported the amendment and issued a statement saying: “The well-being of animals is and always will be of the utmost importance to Kentucky’s farmers. The proper care of livestock and poultry goes hand-in-hand with a farmer’s livelihood, and none of our members condone animal cruelty of any form.”
The statement also noted that, “House Bill 222, and Kentucky Farm Bureau’s support of it, is aimed at preventing individuals from seeking employment on a farm through misrepresentation and does not prevent law enforcement or governmental authorities from investigating accusations of animal cruelty. Kentucky has established Livestock Care Standards that provide guidelines for proper care of the commonwealth’s farm animals, and we openly support and encourage all farmers in this state to adhere to those standards at all times."
The amended bill passed the Senate with a 32-6 vote, but the House did not bring the new version up for a vote before the session ended.
Kentucky State Veterinarian Robert Stout said that while PEDV is not something that has been reported a lot in the state, the disease is hard to treat. In fact, he said it’s not very treatable at all and the feedback practice is one of the most effective measures in stopping the disease.
Stout also said, in his opinion, there is no law against the practice and in the case of the Kentucky farm in question, what that farmer did was not applicable to the laws on the books in the state regarding rendering.
Stout added that the farmer acted as quickly as possible, and the act of feedback is an old and tested method of immunizing pigs against the disease. He said he thinks a vaccine will come soon and he hopes it has peaked and feels like the number of cases is on the decline.
Kentucky has had 15 farms report the disease, according to the latest information from the National Pork Board.