Happy New Year to each of you and your families. May the new year bring joy and success throughout the coming year.

I’m not big on New Year’s resolutions, but from time to time I like a challenge and will try to come up with a resolution that could be successful and/or meaningful. No, I don’t make a resolution to lose weight; I like food too much to try that.

But at the same time try to eat as healthy as I can – other than during holidays and festivities.

One of my resolutions is to learn something new this year. I realize you can’t teach an “old dog” new tricks, but it is never too late to learn something new.

Over the past couple of weeks, I have highlighted some upcoming programs such as the Carbon meeting set for this coming week 6:30-8 p.m. Thursday, January 6; and the Agriculture Outlook Meeting scheduled for 7 a.m. (for breakfast) Friday, January 14.

Both meetings will be held at the Clinton County Extension Community Room. Both are free but we would like you to call (937) 382-0901 to let us know you will be attending.

This week I wanted to highlight another meeting that is very important to all swine producers and enthusiasts big or small in terms of pork production. The program “If African Swine Fever Comes to your Neighborhood, Are You Prepared?” is designed to help those interested

Learn the signs and what to do if African Swine Fever or another foreign animal disease affects your herd. This program addresses the steps you should take, the state and federal response and biosecurity planning. This program is co-sponsored by Ohio Department of Agriculture, USDA and The Ohio State University and the Ohio Pork Council.

This has been a catastrophic disease to pork production world-wide and we here in North America have been fortunate not to have experienced it yet. It is not if but when it gets here that has the pork industry nervous. We need to learn what will be necessary to get control of it quickly and to prevent pork production devastation here in Ohio and the United States.

Clinton County will be host to one of several regional meetings to be held in Ohio. This meeting will be held 6-7:30 p.m. Wednesday, January 12 at the Clinton County Extension Office Community Room at 111 S Nelson Ave., Wilmington. There is no cost to attend and no RSVP required. Light refreshments will be provided by Ohio Pork Council.

Any questions? Contact Dr. Kristy Shaw at 614.728.6253 or [email protected].

To give you a little bit of background, I provide you the following from the National Pork Board: African swine fever (ASF) is a highly contagious viral disease of pigs. It can spread very quickly in pig populations through direct or indirect contact.

After direct or non-tickborne contact with the virus, ASF is mainly thought to enter the body through the upper respiratory tract. Death usually occurs within 7 to 10 days, but sudden death is possible in newly exposed herds. Animals that recover from the illness can be carriers of the virus for several months. There is no vaccine or treatment available and there is no evidence that ASF can infect humans.

The U.S. is an ASF-free region, but if an outbreak is suspected then a veterinarian should be contacted immediately.

Today’s global movements of people and pigs pose greater risks to herd health than ever before. This makes implementing on-farm disease prevention and mitigation strategies critical to maintaining overall herd health and preventing the introduction or spread of disease.

Keep in mind, if this disease enters the U.S. it will shut down not just commercial pork production, branded pork production such as pasture pork along with purebred and show pig operations as well. That it why this meeting is so important to everyone one and I truly do encourage folks to attend.

I hope anyone that is interested will take time to attend this meeting.

Tony Nye is the state coordinator for the Ohio State University Extension Small Farm Program and has been an OSU Extension Educator for agriculture and natural resources for over 30 years, currently serving Clinton County and the Miami Valley EERA.