A great deal of preparation goes into showing pigs — selecting the right animal, providing a balanced diet, maintaining careful skin and hair routines and committing to consistent showmanship training. By the time a pig steps into the ring, it represents months of hard work and a significant investment. That investment deserves protection.
Pig health and traceability are two important keys to safeguard that effort. Working closely with your veterinarian to meet health requirements helps prevent sick pigs from entering exhibitions. But protecting your animals and the broader industry goes beyond meeting entry requirements. Being able to trace a pig’s movement to and from a show throughout its life cycle is a shared responsibility, and one that ultimately rests with the show pig exhibitor and their family.
Modern Tools for Show Pig Traceability
With a free Pork Checkoff–funded AgView® account, exhibitors can track pig movements in real time. And thanks to additional USDA investment, the new MyBarn feature within AgView® makes this process even easier. MyBarn modernizes and strengthens traceability in the show pig sector by allowing users to quickly identify individual show pigs and electronically record their movement to and from shows.
It may seem simple, but it’s a powerful tool. In the event of a disease concern tied to a show or exhibition, accurate and timely traceability can make all the difference, protecting your pigs, your investment and the future of the industry.
My Barn introduces several capabilities to AgView®:
- Producers can import individual animal records to the system with their animal identification number (AIN). This will allow producers to identify individual pigs for tracing, facilitate easier movement creation and enhance show traceability reporting.
- Producers can setup integrations to import their individual animal records to AgView®. For larger-scale producers, adding individual animals can be done in bulk upload via .csv or through application programming interface (API) endpoints connected to custom software. AgView® is partnering with Allflex’s Remote Inventory Portal to facilitate adding animals to the system. Custom software or other integration partners can also leverage the import system.
- Producers can include animal location history on their individual animal records. When animals are added to AgView®, the user can provide optional location history, allowing them to import or add location data across the animal’s lifecycle. When a reportable disease is identified, producers can share data with State Animal Health Officials (SAHOs) to help trace and mitigate the issue.
The MyBarn feature is currently being tested and will launch for all AgView® users later this year.
While using MyBarn does not replace having the required health papers for shows, AgView® keeps track of all the animal movements.
Learn more about MyBarn by visiting AgView.com and requesting a demonstration of this new feature designed to further enhance biosecurity practiced by show pig exhibitors.
Open for Input: Event Organizer Features in AgView®
The AgView® team is working on a proof of concept to make it easier for exhibition organizers to gather traceability data by using AgView®. These ideas are in the pre-development stage and will be available for testing soon; concepts will continue to evolve based on producer and industry feedback.
- Event Organizer Account Type – show runners can create and manage their events. Organizers can use a new type of AgView® account to facilitate show management and collect needed traceability information from participants for reporting to SAHOs.
Reports to State Animal Health Officials – Organizers can submit their show data report to the SAHO after the event. SAHOs can download their reports within AgView® or leverage other tools, such as the Map feature, to view or analyze event data.
Have Questions?
Contact Patrick Webb, NPB’s assistant chief veterinarian, at [email protected] with questions or to learn more!
Visit AgView.com to learn more.
