Precautions When Visiting Hog Farms

Pigs are extremely susceptible to the transmission of disease. They can catch diseases from other pigs or from humans. To prevent disease transmission, owners typically ask people to take certain precautions when visiting their farm. These measures, often referred to as biosecurity procedures, are designed to prevent virus, bacteria and fungus from entering the barns where their animals are housed.

  1. Understanding Biosecurity

    • Containment Hog Units are highly controlled, closed barn systems. The pigs never leave the farm, and there are precautions taken so that those going in and out don't introduce a disease to the closed unit. To do this, each barn has a "clean" side and a "dirty" side, with a neutral or barrier area in the middle. The "dirty" side is where you leave your personal items. Nothing that has come in contact with the world outside the barns can go beyond this point without undergoing sanitation. The neutral area has showers and sanitation products. Everything that enters the barn must go through the neutral area and be decontaminated. The "clean" side is the area where the hogs reside, which is designed to stay disease free.

    Three Day Quarintine

    • Do not come in contact with any other pigs for three days before your farm visit. Three days is the incubation period for most swine disease, such as microplasma pneumonia and H1N1 flu virus. This insures that you do no unknowingly carry disease into the pig barns and expose the pigs to an infection that could prove deadly.

    Vehicle Safety

    • Wash your car before visiting a pig farm if it has been driven to any other locations where swine were present in the week previous to your visit. This prevents diseases that are carried in the wind from blowing off your vehicle during your visit and infecting the farm's pigs.

    Self Decontamination

    • When entering the barn, you likely will enter a locker room. Leave your personal possessions, including clothing, in the locker you are assigned. Shower in the room provided and dress in an outfit provided for you on the "clean" side of the shower. The outfit typically will consist of a set of coveralls, socks, underwear and rubber boots. These are the only garments allowed into the barns.