Foreign animal disease preparedness isn’t just about in­­creasing biosecurity. It’s also about having a plan in place in case a farm sees an outbreak of African swine fever, foot-and-mouth disease or another foreign animal disease, experts said recently at the Iowa Pork Congress in Des Moines.

“In our internal discussions on our sow farms, we’re trying to plan ahead for the worst-case scenario, for an outbreak on a 6,000-head sow farm,” said Neal Benjamin, veterinarian with Carthage Veterinary Service and a production veterinarian with Professional Swine Management Ltd.

Discussions ...