The African Swine Fever is a devastating disease that no farmer prays it come near his farm. Because this disease breaks out so often, a wise farmer takes precaution at all times in keeping his herd and farm free risks factors that might introduce the disease.
I have found the following actions a farmer should take to avoid the disease.
First, you need to be aware how this disease so easily spreads. And these are:
1. Direct pig-to-pig contact.
2. Vehicles clothes, footwear, equipment etc
3. Human carriers e.g workers and visitors
3. Feeding the swine contaminated food
4. Slurry
5. Tick Bites
To limit possibility of the disease,
1. Limit the movement/ isolate your herd. Prevent them from mixing with others in the vicinity. Put them in enclosures
2. Limit access of new pigs to the farm. Establish a quarantine zone for new animals and watch them for at least 30 days. Always buy from trusted sources
3. Pigs taken to market and not disposed off should be quarantined and not reintroduced to the herd until either sold off or reach 30 days after the last outing
4. Dead pigs must disposed off quickly and securely
5. Limit access to your farms by vehicles, persons or animals. Persons entering your enclosures must disinfect themselves. If they wish not to, then point out your animals to them from across the fence! No need being Mister Nice Guy and suffering later.
6. Limit the practice of introducing boars from other farms for mating purposes. During times of outbreaks, it is not worth it.
7. Stop the common practice of feeding pigs food waste to pigs. It is now illegal in western countries because it introduces diseases very easily to pig farms. Such practice, known as feeding swills has been implicated in risk from infectious disease, particularly exotic viral diseases such as Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) and Classical Swine Fever. It may be cheap to go swills, but the risks are too great
8. Consider proper feces removal from your pens. Avoid the temptation of using pig feces or slurry as manure. It could spread disease to free roaming animals.
9. Ticks are very good at transmitting diseases in Pigs. These ticks, known as Ornithodoros spp., are notorious for habouring the disease for as long as 5 years and living as long.
This is a problem area. But fumigation and clean pens are necessary to ensure that pigs are not infected.Also, the presence of ticks should trigger the disinfection of the farm. Lipidic solvents and commercial disinfectants based on iodine and phenolic compounds, are effective tackling the virus. However, the presence of ticks be brought to the attention of a Vet professional for expert advice on how to tackle it as quickly and as safely as possible
Avoiding the spread of Swine Fever Disease in Farms
Re: Avoiding the spread of Swine Fever Disease in Farms
Thanks for this. Permission to share to my friend. He dad is into this, on a small scale sha.