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It has now been well over a year that America’s pork producers have been battling a relentless virus that has caused a very high number of piglet losses in over half of the 50 states. Since there has not yet been a vaccine developed for Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus (PEDv), bio-security has been of utmost importance to keep the virus from spreading to new farms and to keep it from coming back to farms it has already impacted.

For Heimerl Farms in Licking County, one of the unfortunate farms that has had to deal with the deadly and costly virus back in November, keeping PEDv away for good is a goal they are taking very seriously. That is why the Heimerls have invested heavily in their own thermo-assisted drying and decontamination (TADD) system.

“This is not an investment you want to make and it’s not one you can wait to make,” said Brad Heimerl, part owner and manager of Heimerl Farms. “My Dad, Jim, has always said that if it doesn’t make money we’re not going to do it. Getting a swimming pool isn’t going to make you any money. But, this is something that you don’t necessary see the money pouring in from, you just hope it is closing a couple of holes and gaps that allows you to keep you making a profit.”

This semi-truck-long building houses the Heimerl Farm’s TADD system

The system is currently using propane, but will soon be converted to natural gas, to heat the newly built semi-truck-long garage to a steamy 160 degrees. After the haulers are pulled in to the facility, the pre-heating process takes about 45 minutes and then the hot air is circulated for 10 to 15 minutes to kill any PEDv, other viruses or bacteria on the surface of the trailer. Heimerl emphasized that there are important steps that need to be taken before a truck is put through the TADD system in order for the system to do what it is intended to do.

“If one step of the process is lost, you’ve done nothing to prevent the spread of viruses,” Heimerl said. “If somebody pulled a trailer in here that had some fecal material left inside of it, the effort is wasted. It has to be clean. If you don’t start out with a clean trailer then you’ve wasted your time.”

Heimerl said it is easy enough for anyone on his farm to use, but everyone needs to be on the same page as far as bio-security is concerned to make it work to its highest potential.

It is not easy to determine just how much of a return on investment this massive oven will yield. It is equally difficult to determine the results of the TADD system.

After a TADD system run is complete, this sticker is placed on the decontaminated trailer

“The results from this are not something you can see with your own eyes,” Heimerl said. “You hope that what you’re doing is working and since we haven’t seen any disease pressure at certain operations that we are taking these trucks to hopefully we are eliminating the problem.”

“Given the scientific data we have off of this system to know that at 160 degrees we have disrupted the molecular structure of viruses, we have to say that it is working.”

Heimerl believes buildings like his will be popping up on many larger-scale hog farms throughout the country, noting that if a TADD system is something that an operation would use on a daily basis, it would be worth the investment.