With aerosol transmission now known to be the major cause of PRRS spread, SVC veterinarians Darwin Reicks and Jeff Feder have become leaders and early adapters of air filtration. They have the highest number of filtered boar studs, sow farms and finishers in North America today.

Paul Yeske, DVM, who joined SVC in 1985, has been very involved in the PRRS risk assessment program that evaluates various parameters for the likelihood of a PRRS infection.

With the cost of air filtration at $150-$250/sow — similar to the cost of one PRRS break — air filtration is looking more and more like a good investment, Loula emphasizes.

Loula and SVC have constructed two, state-of-the-art, 2,300-head, wean-to-finish research facilities where leading edge production research is conducted. This has helped some of SVC's clients to adopt not only new technology, but also to fine-tune nutrition and profitable production practices.

Industry Threats

In Loula's view, one of the major challenges to the future of U.S. pork production is the growing encroachment of animal welfare activism, fed by bad publicity, such as the recent HBO film highlighting abuse on an Ohio sow farm.

“We are not doing enough to get our message out. In the pig business, it seems like only one side of the story is told. We need to be better salespersons and marketers of how we raise quality pork,” he says

Media often portray the pork industry in a negative light. He recalls back in 1990 when he was the president of the AASV. The TV show “60 Minutes” planned an exposé on problems with antibiotics. That program was quickly cancelled, however, when investigators for the news program failed to turn up any abuses at hog farms or feedmills.

On the plus side, programs such as the National Pork Board's Operation Main Street are reaching millions of people in the Heartland, but there are millions more on the coasts who never hear the positive story of pork production practiced by the majority of producers, Loula points out.

What's needed is a spokesperson who will relay the positive message about agriculture and meat production, he urges.

For Loula, responsible pork production is a way of life. SVC clients follow humane standards of raising hogs.

He says another future challenge for the U.S. pork industry is the trend away from sow gestation stalls, set to be banned in Europe in 2013. A handful of states have taken action to ban stalls in the next few years, with similar efforts being proposed in Illinois and Ohio. Castration without anesthesia is another looming welfare issue.

Loula still enjoys the everyday challenges of helping his clients to be “the best.” He feels his success has always been linked to the success of his clients.