Podcast: Living with ASF in South Africa

The Real P3 podcast series is an initiative where pork professionals worldwide are interviewed about challenges and solutions in their day-to-day work.

South Africa’s formal commercial sector currently has about 140,000 sows in total, which is made up of about 500 producers. The average slaughter weight in the country is about 82-84kg, which Kotzé would like to improve.

Ever-present African Swine Fever

“You were probably one of the first and the longest countries to deal with African Swine Fever (ASF),” states Dr Bradley. “ASF is endemic in South Africa. Our first case was in 1928…it is part and parcel of the way we live,” Kotzé confirms, adding that the mindset of the farmers in the country is quite different in this regard.

While ASF is very difficult to control, Kotzé believes ASF can be managed. He talks about the importance of being prepared, acting swiftly, and how the country practices compartmentalisation to help manage threats. He notes how biosecurity has become a way of life for many farmers to mitigate the ever-present risk.

Earlier episodes of the Real P3 podcast series

In the previous weeks, Pig Progress published earlier episodes of the Real P3 podcast series:

• Episode 20: Porcast’s Jean-Philippe Martineau and Louis-Philippe Roy, France;
• Episode 21: Amanda Minton and Dr Justin Fix, USA;
• Episode 22: Dr Daniel Columbus, Canada;
• Episode 23: Dave Klocke, USA;
• Episode 24: part 1: Dr Craig Bradley, Michigan, USA;
• Episode 24, part 2: Scott McKenzie, Michigan, USA;
• Episode 24, part 3: Dennis Wooden, Michigan, USA;
• Episode 25: Guy Soreq;
• Episode 26: Dr Joel Flores, USA;
• Episode 27: Pablo Morena;
• Episode 28: Willem Steyn (South Africa), Philip van den Brink and Vincent ter Beek (the Netherlands);
• Episode 29: Myles van Deventer (South Africa);
• Episode 30: Katherine Marcano-Bell; Iowa, USA.