Effective Use of Slaughter Checks for Identification and Control of Swine Disease

Swine producers, individually and as an industry are faced with numerous and complicated challenges. It is a> dynamic industi^^,. .One area of interaction within tiie infrast^cture-is that of.animal health.^lere are m^ny. diseases known to affect swihe and their production efficiencies,, These diseases Impact producers and the industry in numerous, interrelated ways ., Severe animal disease can cause producers•to" dramatically limit or even halt,production [1]. Disease can be clinical or subclinical.. Clinical disease is easily observable and actions can be taken to reduce its level; However, many swine diseases are subclinical and are riot visually observableFor subclinical disease, detection and accurate diagnoses in"the live animal can be difficult.;-,.Yet these diseases can result in significant reductions in'animal efficiency and.^roduqef, losses