Economic Impact of Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Virus on U.S. Pork Producers

Information is provided on the productivity and economic impacts of PRRS disease in the U.S. breeding herd and growing pig herd. The total annual loss from PRRS in U.S. breeding herds was estimated at $302.06 million, i.e., $52.19 per breeding female or $2.36 per pig weaned. The majority of the loss in the breeding herd was due to reduced revenue ($300.4 million) resulting from weaning 8.3 million fewer pigs. Combining the losses in the breeding and growing pig herds resulted in 9.9 million fewer pigs, or 2.41 billion fewer pounds of pork (carcass weight), sold per year in the U.S. The estimated annual loss in the growing pig herd was $361.8 million or $62.52 per breeding female. As in the breeding herd, lost revenue of $1.62 billion, rather than increased cost, was the primary source of losses attributed to PRRS. With PRRS, costs were lowered by $1.25 billion because fewer pigs and pounds of pork were produced, thereby partially offsetting the lost revenue. In summary, the estimated total cost of PRRS in the U.S. national breeding and growing pig herd was at $664 million annually ($1.8 million per day). In addition, information on veterinary costs, biosecurity costs, and other costs from the survey of expert opinion were used to estimate these annual costs attributed to PRRS virus. The additional veterinary costs were estimated to be $140.11 million annually. The annual biosecurity and other outbreak related costs attributed to PRRS were estimated to be $191.86 million and $145.82 million, respectively. The total additional costs attributed to PRRS for veterinary, biosecurity and other outbreak related costs were $477.79 million annually.