-Photo courtesy of the National Pork Board
Dr. Katie Beckman is shown here in an unidentified hog barn. She is a Purdue graduate who has worked for the Audubon-Manning Veterinary Clinic since June 2022. “We use the ISU Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory all the time,” said Beckman. “We submit a lot of samples to that lab to be tested. We can use the samples to diagnose sick pigs. We can use it for disease surveillance. The beauty about that lab is it’s pretty much in our backyard.”

AMES — Brian Lundell is a contract grower out of Kiron for the Audubon-Manning Vet Clinic (AMVC), a top-10 United States hog producer.

He began his relationship with AMVC in 2012. Lundell earned the title “Master Pork Producer” from the Iowa Pork Producers Association in 2019. When Farm News spoke with him at that time, he said, “The animal’s well-being is what I have the most impact on every single day,” said Lundell. “Their overall care is what I can control: feed, water, ventilation, proper vaccination, and to sort and load in a way that is the least stressful on them.”

One of the reasons that Lundell is a happy hog farmer is that his care is backed up by AMVC.

“If there’s a health concern that the manager or I see, we get in contact with the AMVC veterinarian,” said Lundell. “The veterinarian will come through the barn to take blood or saliva samples and take them to the lab. If we have a recently deceased pig, an evaluation will be made — sometimes samples taken — to see what caused the death; the results could help us to determine what kind of medication we need to administer to the herd, if necessary, to keep an illness controlled.”

One of those AMVC veterinarians is Dr. Katie Beckman and — along with Iowa State University’s Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory (VDL) — she assists in a portion of the care of the AMVC 900,000 market pigs in Iowa.

“The ISU Vet Lab specializes in swine samples,” said Beckman, who has been with AMVC since June of 2022. “They get a lot of swine samples from across the whole country sent to them to be tested. They have great customer service, great turnaround times and a variety of tests available. ISU really stands out by making a name for themselves with swine diagnostics.”

Beckman has responsibilities over both sow farms and grow-to-finish operations.

“Sow farm visits can be routine,” said Beckman. “Sometimes you’re going to investigate a problem. Grow-to-finish visits can be similar, but a lot of times if I’m going to a farm, it’s because the production manager or producer called me because the pigs are sick. Sometimes, something unique is noticed, and they want me to go check it out. A lot of times I take diagnostics, and then send those off to the lab. We use those results then to recommend a treatment protocol for those pigs.”

The ISU Veterinary Diagnostic Lab originated in 1978 with updates over the years. Recently, a new facility was designed with surge capacity in mind, and VDL researchers are studying high throughput testing machines that use microfluidics to process 30,000 tests a day compared to a standard machine’s 2,000. VDL faculty and staff began work in the completed portion of the lab’s new facility in late March.

“We use the ISU Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory all the time,” said Beckman. “We submit a lot of samples to that lab to be tested. We can use the samples to diagnose sick pigs. We can use it for disease surveillance. The beauty about that lab is it’s pretty much in our backyard, so we can have results quickly. Those results help us make timely decisions on treatment and pig flow.”

In fiscal year 2023, Iowa State’s VDL processed more than 124,000 cases involving nearly 1.7 million individual tests. It marked the 13th consecutive year that the lab’s caseload has increased.

The increase was driven more by disease prevention than identification. Improved methods for collecting and analyzing samples have led to a boom in population-wide health monitoring.

“The industry cannot function without that diagnostic lab,” said Beckman. “Part of our profession is practicing evidence-based medicine, and we must have those diagnostics and those results to do that. What we do every day, we couldn’t do without that lab.

“Sometimes they can just help us make timely decisions on how to react to a situation. The timely diagnostics help us detect early, so we can slow down or stop the spread of disease. We use those results to make sure we are picking the correct antibiotics or the correct treatments to care for those pigs. It’s one way we prevent overuse of antibiotics, so that lab is important to make sure, as an industry, we maintain goals for antimicrobial stewardship.”

Hog producer Lundell is content knowing that the ISU Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory supports Beckman and his annual 20,000-count swine operation.

“The lab is a large contributor to our overall success,” said Lundell. “I just can’t over-emphasize what the VDL means to my pig’s health and our farm’s ability to be run well and profitably so.”