Contact-free pig farming: a biosecurity solution protecting pigs from African Swine Fever

On the morning of October 7 in Hanoi, Vietnam Agriculture and Nature News, in collaboration with the Department of Livestock Production and Animal Health under the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, and the Hanoi Department of Agriculture and Environment, held the forum “Solutions to reduce livestock production costs and stabilise domestic and export meat supply”.

The event gathered industry leaders, scientists, and businesses to share effective solutions for sustainable and biosecure livestock development.

At the forum, Tran Anh Hoat, Deputy Director of Amavet Veterinary Pharmaceutical JSC, presented on the growing challenges facing Vietnam’s livestock industry, particularly the persistent and hard-to-control spread of African Swine Fever (ASF).

According to Hoat, ASF has circulated in Vietnam since 2019, and recent genomic sequencing studies have shown the dominance of genotypes 1 and 2 in recent outbreaks. This trend, he said, has forced farmers and scientists to urgently search for innovative approaches to contain the disease and protect pig herds.

In response, Amavet has successfully developed a “contact-free farming” model, which has produced encouraging results across farms, companies, and household producers. The essence of this model lies in changing traditional husbandry practices to control the transmission of pathogens through mechanical carriers such as vehicles, feed, human contact, and animal secretions. Amavet plans to coordinate with provincial veterinary departments to expand the model’s adoption among smallholder farms.

The contact-free system is implemented through a series of strict procedures aimed at minimising cross-contamination. For sow management, farms are advised to group pigs by production stage and install disinfectant trays and alcohol sprayers at the entry and exit of feeding lanes. Every step must follow strict hygiene rules to reduce exposure.

In feeding management, leftover feed is not reused or scraped from troughs; instead, troughs are disinfected and rinsed with clean water without scrubbing. Health surveillance is critical, caretakers must record pigs that fail to finish their feed, monitor body temperature, and report anomalies to technical staff. Each group of pigs should have separate waste-handling tools to avoid cross-spread.

During reproduction and medical treatment, hormone therapy replaces natural mating, and insemination is carried out in confined pens. All injections or treatments must be administered from behind the animal. Workers are required to disinfect their hands and arms thoroughly before moving to another herd. To reduce infection risk, the protocol prohibits floor and udder wiping, and mandates a new needle for each sow and for each herd during vaccination.

A similar approach applies to fattening pigs, where cleaning operations are performed externally under a “no sweeping, no manure removal” rule. Vaccination uses non-contact vaccines, with one needle designated per pen.

Biosecurity: The only path to protecting farm assets

Echoeing the trend, Nguyen Van Bach, General Director of Amavet, affirmed that biosecurity is the only viable path to safeguard farm assets and optimise production costs. The essence of contact-free farming, he said, is to limit the entry of pathogens into livestock herds. The model is cost-effective, easy to implement, and particularly suitable for smallholder operations.

Bach explained that the model relies on three protective layers: prevention, containment, and non-contact. The first layer begins at the farm gate, with three checkpoints, a control area, a disinfection room, and an animal exit area, to block external pathogens. The second layer focuses on containment by monitoring the movement of people and supplies, applying UV or alcohol disinfection, and installing barriers such as nets and lime lines to deter rodents, flies, and mosquitoes. The third layer concerns human behaviour: workers must strictly follow hygiene procedures and avoid direct animal contact before disinfection.

He emphasised that adopting contact-free farming does not significantly raise costs; the real challenge lies in changing farmers’ mindsets. Large farms can meet biosecurity standards with only minor adjustments to existing facilities, while smallholders can substantially improve disease safety simply by enclosing their pig pens with brick walls or mesh fences.