The Stam family of Jarvis signed on for a regional PRRS elimination and control pilot project in the hope that it would help them lick the disease. And, for a while, they thought they had succeeded
by Mary Baxter
Tony Stam first encountered Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome in 1997 when he learned that a shipment of semen contained the virus.
“We were alerted by our veterinarian that the boars had just broken with PRRS,” he recalls. Some of the semen had already been used for breeding. They threw out the rest but it was too late.
As it turned out, the strain was mild. So, in consultation with their vet, Tony and his wife Vickie chose to control it by exposing all new animals on their arrival.