Iowa veterinarians and pork producers can now go beyond Iowa State’s extension program for resources in their trades.

On July 1, ISU extension paired with the extension program at the University of Nebraska to share hog production experts.

“As we try and serve our industries, there’s a number of different disciplines producers need help in,” said John Mabry, director of the Iowa Pork Industry Center. “With budget cuts, we don’t have specialists in every area, so we agreed to share time between Nebraska and Iowa State in areas that complement each other.”

Locke Karriker, assistant professor of veterinary diagnostic and production animal medicine, is one of Iowa State’s faculty members involved in the project. He will participate in hog producer’s meetings and will be available as a resource for producers in both Nebraska and Iowa.

“One of the first steps is trying to provide expertise across state lines,” Karriker said. “There will be people in the respective states that have access to personnel from cooperating states as if [those personnel] also was in the state.”

For example, Mabry said, Nebraska does not have assistance in terms of animal health, and one of Iowa’s strengths is in hog health. Members of Nebraska extension can contact ISU extension for help.

“It’s a simple exchange of time so Iowa can use 25 days of Nebraska’s time, and Nebraska can use 25 days of Iowa’s time,” Mabry said. “This is the first step in a trend toward regionalization. Every state will not have the resources to have a specialist in every area.”

Mabry said he has already received calls from the University of Nebraska.

“There is a person in southeast Nebraska that had some questions on Perrs, a disease challenge for pigs, but they didn’t have any extension experts, so they called over here,” Mabry said.

He said because the endeavor only includes sharing time, money will not be a problem. The only additional costs would be travel expenses for the out-of-state expert, but Mabry said that cost is usually incurred by the client, not the extension program.

Karriker said he does not expect a large time commitment to stem from this project.

“At this point, it’s a very small commitment time-wise,” Karriker said. “We will establish to what extent the need exists. For me, it will involve being available with distance tools. It won’t involve a whole lot of travel.”

Mabry said as many as 15 people could become involved with the project as it develops. He said the initial agreement will last five years, until 2009.