When asked what swine disease concerns him the most, PJ Corns, technical director for JBS USA Pork, gave three answers while speaking at World Pork Expo on June 4 in Des Moines, Iowa.
However, all three answers were the same: Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS).
As an employee of a multi-protein company, not everyone with in JBS truly understands what PRRS is. Corns gave an example of a JBS USA Beef employee who would often hear Corns and his colleagues talk about PRRS, so he finally asked what exactly the disease was. Following that question, Corn offered a unique analogy.
“I said the best analogy that I can come up with for somebody who doesn't know is you work in an office building and there's a 50% chance that office building is going to burn down in the next year. And when it does burn down, we're going to ask you to come into work the next day, work double as hard, and, oh, by the way, you're not going to get bonus,” Corns said.
PJ CornsRoy Graber
While Corns said that scenario captures the chaos that often comes with a PRRS outbreak, he said he does feel people in the industry have become more accustomed to dealing with an outbreak in an appropriate way.
“Now, it is more common to say, “O.K., we’ve got a PRRS break. Here's how we're going to handle it. We've got much more fluid in that,” he said. “I think we’re getting smarter, although PRRS has a way of making us seem dumb a lot, but I think we’re getting more consistent in how we approach that.”
However, Corns said even though people in the industry are getting better at managing PRRS, he is still worried about situations where people may not take outbreaks as seriously as they should.
“I feel guilty about this, and I don’t want to get emotional, but I think we’ve marginalized some of these PRRS breaks, (thinking) oh, that’s an easy break or that’s an easy strain. PRRS sucks, no matter what it is,” Corns said.
