About the Guest
Dr. Derald Holtkamp is a Professor in the Department of Veterinary Diagnostics and Production Animal Medicine (VDPAM) in the College of Veterinary Medicine at Iowa State University (Ames, Iowa, U.S.). He received his DVM, MS in Agricultural Economics, and B.S. in Agricultural Business with a minor in statistics, all from Iowa State University.
Prior to joining Iowa State, he was a private veterinary consultant. He has also served as a technical services veterinarian for ADViSYS Inc., Vice President of Swine Applications for MetaFarms Inc., Director of Pork Development for E-Markets, Inc., and veterinarian for Smithfield Foods in Warsaw, North Carolina. Dr. Holtkamp’s research focuses on managing infectious swine diseases, biosecurity, disease risk assessment, and the economics of animal health and disease. He has authored more than 70 peer-reviewed publications, delivered over 70 invited presentations internationally, and given more than 220 invited talks across the United States. In addition, he has mentored over 275 professional and graduate students.
What can you expect to learn from this episode of Popular Pig?
- How pig mortality directly impacts US competitiveness and why productivity gaps matter far beyond individual farms.
- What global benchmarking data shows about how the US compares to countries like Brazil and why mortality is a major driver.
- How PRRS continues to play a significant role in lost productivity and why its true economic impact is likely underestimated.
- Why biosecurity failures are usually tied to everyday processes, not rare events or one time mistakes.
- How identifying, prioritizing, and monitoring biosecurity risks matters more than debating rules like downtime length.
