Swine virus cancels 4-H projects

SANDERS COUNTY – After an outbreak of a virus, seven million pigs in the United States were killed. The deadly virus known as Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus or PED has now affected the Sanders County Fair. 

According to MSU Extension agent, Meghan Phillippi, both 4-H and open class have decided to not allow breeding swine at the fair due to the virus.

“Both groups have opted for this route to protect breeding swine from the virus,” Phillippi said. 

The virus is a disease, which is only known to occur in pigs, and produces acute and severe outbreaks of diarrhea, causing the virus to rapidly transmit throughout all ages of pigs. 

The virus has been present in Asia and Europe since the 1970s, but just recently made its way to the United States. It has been known to devastate large swine operations.

Phillippi said that if a breeding animal were to get the virus, it would most likely destroy a herd.

“A hundred percent of the litters born to sows with the virus are likely to die,” Phillippi said.

Montana has had some reported cases of the virus, however, Phillippi was unsure of where.

The issue was brought up during the April Sanders County Fairboard meeting. Director Jim Newman asked what the plan was for the fair this year.

Phillippi had stated that different counties throughout the state were handling swine in a variety of ways. She mentioned that the virus is most likely transmitted through either fecal or mouth contact, which is a constant with piglets and the kill rate was 100 percent.

“If anything were to survive that then they are a carrier,” Phillippi explained at the meeting. “That’s where we’d have concerns in our market swine.” 

This year 4-H has decided to not hold a swine-tagging event like they have had in the past. Instead, the tags were distributed to different contacts in each club so the animals would not have contact with each other. Along with the tagger and the tags, a bottle of Novocain would also be distributed. 

The plan was to educate the members as best as they could on how to protect their swine from the virus.

“We don’t have any breeding projects signed up for this year, but our recommendation would be that you guys not accept breeding either,” Phillippi had said.

Phillippi also mentioned in the meeting that kids in the market project for 4-H are encouraged to leave their animals at home if they did not make weight. That way there would be no possibility for the swine to catch the virus, and then carry it home to infect other swine.

The fairboard and Phillippi also discussed requiring all swine at the fair to be slaughtered, hence why the breeding project was vetoed for the year. 

Newman recommended that the board did not accept any swine breeding projects this year for that reason. 

Phillippi said her office had been getting an influx of calls from people selling pigs. She encourages education so that everyone is well versed in the virus and its effects.