When we think about potential pathogens moving into herds, new animals entering the herd are the most efficient and easiest way to introduce disease. Understanding the pathogen status of the source herd is the most important decision to make. When buying replacement gilts or heifers, the status of that source herd is going to be reflected in all recipient herds. Whatever endemic diseases occur in the source herd, will be introduced into the recipient herds every time animals are moved.

It's important to understand what is happening with the source herd. How are we managing biosecurity? If biosecurity is managed poorly when moving animals, those animals could be exposed to disease. That means that we have to understand how animals are being introduced, how they're isolated, and how we test them. Understanding the animal movement into the farm becomes extremely important if we're going to be successful in minimizing the chance of new diseases being introduced.

This is a self-paced course. You may start and finish the course at any time. Upon successful completion of this course, you will be granted one hour of continuing education (CE). College of Veterinary Medicine is an authorized CE provider, and our courses are equivalent to RACE approved. This course is expected to take one hour to complete.

This course is 100% online. All the lectures and assessments are on-demand to meet your busy schedule.

1 hour of CE!

What You'll Learn