Biosecurity At Pork Congress

Biosecurity was one of the major topics at Pork Congress. Remember, it was not  long ago that baby pigs were dying from the PED virus. The disease had never been found in the United States before and if the farrowing barn was infected, 100 percent of the newborn baby pigs were going to die. Think of that, a disease that is 100 percent lethal. Last March the turkey industry was hit with the highly pathogenic avian influenza, another disease that is 100 percent lethal, no matter what a producer did to save them. As a livestock producer it is all about keeping your livestock healthy, not trying to treat them when they are sick or watch them die.

In the picture is a new biosecurity tool for livestock producers, a stainless steel shower stall with ultraviolet light. This is placed in a livestock barn at the entry to the barn. Workers go into an entry area called a dirty area, take your clothes off, shower with ultraviolet light and move into the clean room. This area has a washer and dryer for clothes worn in the barn. Workers put on clean clothes to go into the barn to care for the livestock. When you leave the barn you reverse the procedure and shower out. The point is nothing gets into the barn from the outside except your naked showered body! Oh, by the way with the ultraviolet light to kill pathogens that might survive the shower!

I happened to think, I wonder what the "scrub" procedures are for a surgeon going into an operating room? Are they any more extensive then the procedures that are being adapted by livestock producers? This demonstrates the lengths livestock producers are doing to keep their livestock healthy. By the way, this stainless steel shower was developed by a company in Thorp, Wisconsin, called Thorp Equipment. They specialize in manufacturing stainless steel equipment. Stainless steel does not rust or pit like steel and is easy to sterilize. Even the floor is stainless steel, not concrete. Concrete can chip and also be hard to sterilize.