Breeder and Shelter Biosecurity Guidelines

Biosecurity Measures

Biosecurity Questionnaire

Protecting Your Pig at the Show

Biosecurity Poster

A private sanctuary rescued feral piglets whose mother had been killed. Subsequent pseudorabies testing results are positive. Only adequate quarantine facilities convince the authorities that repeated testing of the entire herd for the disease should be carried out instead of destroying all pigs on the premises. Pseudorabies did not move into the sanctuary.

Four pigs from a facility with many boarders stop by for a social visit. No biosecurity measures are taken. A contagious and potentially fatal diarrhea breaks out in textbook fashion at the sanctuary that housed the visiting pigs. Three sanctuaries end up in strict quarantine although only one actually had sick pigs. The others were exposed by indirect contamination. It is a costly and exhausting experience for the people involved and pigs suffer needlessly from an event that should have been easily avoided.

These are two recent incidents involving potbelly pigs. It is up to the potbelly pig community to be at the forefront of biosecurity and prevent future events such as this which could have much more dire consequences. Perhaps no other issue is more important to the safety of our pigs and paradoxically more overlooked than biosecurity.

As the social incident points out, the actions of one can affect us all. Those who have taken it upon themselves to be part of the potbelly pig community owe it to the pigs in their care and others in the community to become familiar with and use the very best biosecurity measures available.

It is important to remember that the measures described here may change as pathogens and disease prevention evolve. Because of the differences in the management practices between the commercial swine industry and potbelly pig facilities, our job is actually more difficult. Because our pigs are outdoors, it is much more difficult to control their environment. Therefore, managers must be much more aware of the health of their animals and extremely diligent in their protection.

Biosecurity is defined as procedures that are executed to keep new diseases from entering a farm. There are two basic concepts that affect the safety of pigs in breeding or sanctuary

1. Proactive measures which keep new diseases from being introduced and

2. Reactive measures to take should a disease or suspected disease appears at a facility.

All breeding and sanctuary farms should have a national identification number.

All-in/All-out definition:

1. Note that "all-in/all-out" is not just about animals; it includes water and feed utensils, all manure and bedding removed from the walls and floor, cleaning of the air and ventilation system and finally, but not least, management of any medicines, needles and syringes used during the isolation program.

2. When a pig that leaves the farm and comes back starts at step one again.

3. If a new pig is introduced to a quarantine group, the process starts over.

Consult with your veterinarian to select the most suitable disinfectant and detergent for your particular situation.