AASV unveils new boar stud guidelines to help industry

The American Association of Swine Veterinarians (AASV) just released new boar stud guidelines to help provide some standardization to a rapidly growing industry.

According to Dr. Gary C. Althouse, of the University of Pennsylvaniaand AASV committee chair, the guidelines were the culmination of about threeyears worth of work, and they serve a definite need in the industry.

Althouse says, "I believe that it does provide a valuable resourcefor the practitioner. I also believe that it fills an industry void; thatvoid having been a lack of uniformity in protocols to minimize the transmissionof disease and contaminants in extended semen."

The guidelines, entitled "Health Hygiene, and Sanitation Guidelinesfor Boar Studs Providing Semen to the Domestic Market" and are beingmade available to AASV members for review and distribution to producers.The three-year review included the "formation of a committee, draftingthe initial document, a stringent review process which included five refereesand two AASV directorship boards (consisting of 16 veterinarians), and thefinal document that was approved by the AASV board of directors this year,"Althouse explains.

Dr. Tom Burkgren, executive director AASV, adds, "There are somehurdles they had to cross, because of the diversity between boar studs andthings like disease control and PRRS control. In order to get guidelinesthat were practical and could be useful for industry it took a lot of review."

Burkgren says, the whole process of developing guidelines, as this demonstrated,is very time-consuming work. "It is a laborious process. I think ifthe need is great enough and consensus can be reached, we will be doingother guidelines. We learned a lot from this process."

Burkgren adds, "We had a very dedicated committee, where most peoplemay have thrown up their hands, but they didn't, and we think it is a hugestep forward."

The need

Althouse explains, "Over the past decade, artificial (AI) inseminationsaw exponential growth in its application within the North American swineindustry. This rapid growth led to the establishment of more than 100 independentboar stud facilities throughout North America. Due to the lack of standardizationin the industry during this growth phase, a concomitant number of protocolsand individually-defined standards were established," he says.

Development of specific guidelines or standards was the next logicalstep to provide the necessary clarity and comparability desired by domesticand foreign agencies that interact with our industry," Althouse explains.

"To date, nobody had undertaken the much-needed task of scientificallydefining standards related to the health, hygiene and sanitation of boarstuds which produce extended semen for the market," he says. "Dueto the health implications, I believe the AASV saw itself as one of themost attuned bodies to develop such guidelines for the swine industry,"Althouse adds.

The guidelines

The six-page document is broken down into sections focusing on pre-entry(herd of origin) health requirements for semen donor boars, isolation healthrequirements and health requirements for resident AI stud herds. In addition,there is a section on hygiene and sanitation requirements for semen collection,processing and storage.

Althouse explains, "The committee felt that all of these topicsare critical to a healthy and viable swine industry. When drafting the document,the committee strived to provide specific procedures and guidance pertainingto each of the topics, when available."

Althouse says that some items, however, lacked the necessary scientificinformation to provide procedural guidance (e.g., PRRSV).

"In these situations, the committee strived to provide as much directionas the current state of knowledge would allow. With this in mind, the committeecame to the conclusion that these guidelines are a 'living' document thatwill need to be updated as time progresses. To oversee this living document,a stand-alone committee is now being formed by the AASV."

Althouse adds that the committee was very aware of the diversity thatexists in the swine industry and a goal was to create guidelines applicableto the entire industry.

"I believe the committee did an excellent job in coming up withguidelines which will be highly applicable for any size or type of operation,"he adds.