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PRRS Corner -- ISU PRRS Regional Elimination Project

August 8, 2012 — Becky Eaves

The PRRS Regional Elimination project in Iowa County is coordinated by Derald Holtkamp, Assistant Professor, and Tiffany Yoder, Research Associate, at Iowa State University. 47 sites are enrolled in the project, with approximately 7,200 sows and 64,000 growing pigs.

Excellent communication is at the core of this project. Boehringer-Ingelheim’s Basecamp secure software is utilized as the main form of connection with the producers and veterinarians involved in the project. Project updates, file sharing, and current site status mappings are distributed confidentially through Basecamp. Tiffany emails site change of PRRS status forms every other week to the participants, so information is kept current. Tiffany also publishes a newsletter every two weeks, which includes a table showing which sites have changed PRRS virus status. Producers that are not online are kept in tune with the project through the veterinarians.

A unique aspect of the Iowa County project is the collaboration with the Southeast Iowa PRRS regional elimination project, led by Sonya Maas at Brenneman Pork and Dr. Jim Branstad at Keota Vet Clinic. The change of status form that Tiffany sends out originated with the Southeast Iowa project. Strong communication and positive feedback from producers has led to the collaboration of the two projects, with the hopes to fully combine the projects in the near future. This would be a first for elimination projects nationwide and a huge success in terms of the goal to eliminate PRRS virus from a region.

The Iowa County project serves as a tremendous model for information sharing and timely communication. These traits will continue to propel the project forward to make enormous strides in the successful elimination of PRRS virus in Iowa.

Becky Eaves, PRRS CAP Coordinator