Blaine Tully speaking at the Manitoba Swine Seminar last week.

The disease challenges that Manitoba hog producers are dealing with continue to change.

"We see health and disease challenges on pig farms changing all the time. We've been quite focused on biosecurity for several years, and so as time goes on, disease challenges hopefully become fewer," says Blaine Tully, veterinarian with Swine Health Professionals. "Having said that there are also new challenges with new and novel diseases that we haven't had to deal with before."

Tully shared an update on the disease situation in Manitoba hog barns at the Manitoba Swine Seminar in Winnipeg last week.

He notes the industry has seen significant progress when it comes to reducing prevalence of circovirus.

"Fortunately over the last five years we've seen four difference vaccines come to the marketplace that have effectively controlled circovirus," he says, noting mortality rates due to circovirus have almost dropped in half over the last five years.

He says Manitoba producers have also had a fairly good handle on porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome, or PRRS.

"Again, I go back to our focus on biosecurity and trying to decrease transmission events. Our U.S. neighbours by the nature of their industry structure deal with PRRS transmission between farms more regularly," he says. "Having said that, we do see viruses moving from farm to farm occasionally, and we did have an outbreak in Manitoba this winter."

Tully notes peri-weaning-failure-to-thrive syndrome, or PFTS, remains a mystery for producers and vets.

"We've seemed to be challenged by it for several years across North America. There's been a lot of focus within academia to try and pinpoint the agent that's causing that one," he says. "That one is on producers' radars for sure."

When speaking at the Swine Seminar, Tully also discussed a number of other diseases, including swine influenza, swine disentery and transmissible gastro-enteritis (or TGE.)

Poor pig health is also often a symptom of PMS, or poor management sydrome, jokes Tully.

"Really what I'm trying to say is that sometimes we get so focused on virus and bacteria causing disease, when really it comes down to poor management where it actually has more to do with people, protocol and process on farms," he says. "Sometimes something that looks like a disease problem is just something we need to tweak in how people are managing the pigs."