Farrowing management and the young piglet Flashcards
What are the 4 main aims of during farrowing?
- Increase numbers of live weaned pigs
- More even litters
- Increase average weaning weight
- Avoid excessive loss of sow condition
What is the trigger for farrowing?
The foetuses
Once the foetuses have initiated farrowing, describe the changes that occur in the sow
- Decreased progesterone, increased oxytocin
- Myometrial contractions – she begins to feel uncomfortable
- Nesting behaviour – 24-36hrs before farrowing
- Discomfort
- Stressful
- ↓ appetite
- Milk appearance
Milk appearance begins how long before farrowing?
7-8days prior
What are the key steps in farrowing preparation?
- Correct feeding during the dry period: Extra fat -> narrowing of the pelvic canal
- Accurate records: know when they are due to farrow
- Cleaning & disinfection of the farrowing house
Describe the key points of cleaning and disinfection of the farrowing house
- Remove infection carry over from batch to batch
- Animals, dust, faeces, grease
- Clean down, pre-soak, detergent use (to lift grease off surfaces), pressure wash, disinfect
- DRY DRY DRY!
How can you tell when dystocia is happening, what is normal?
No piglet for over 30m – straining
Normal = every 10-15 mins
What are the two main reasons for dystocia in pigs?
Obstruction – rare unless something has occurred during management e.g. too fat or pelvic collapse (due to not being fed properly as a gilt)
Inertia – straining that has gone unnoticed -> lack of energy
Describe primary inertia and its causes
Uncommon
Overconditioned
Lack of muscular tone
Hypocalcaemia
Concurrent illness
Endocrine malfunction
Describe secondary inertia and its causes
Most common
- Exhaustion
- Dehydration
- Excessive heat
- Prolonged obstruction (hypocalcaemia)
Describe the causes of foetal dystocia in pigs
- Obstructions are actually rare
- Coiled uterus -> backup of fetuses
- Oversized usually in small litter numbers – tend to farrow late
- Congenital abnormalities
- Putrefying dead fetus: usually occurs post farrowing
- Malpresentations: exceedingly rare since designed to come out!
How else can farrowing problems occur?
- Uterine twists – getting sow to stand can resolve this
- Operator induced - Uterine ruptures, pelvic / vaginal damage
- Collapsed / narrow pelvis
- Everted bladder / vaginal prolapse
- Oxytocin overdose (carbetocin caveat)
Describe intervening in farrowing - when to do it and the issues with it
- Full standard history
- Previous tries / treatment?
- Examination (plenty of lube – hygiene)
- If not easily rectified then don’t persevere for ever…
- Cannot reach all of the piglets – one arm length = 1/3 of the uterine body/horns
How should piglets be manually removed?
- Fingers into eye sockets or jaw to pull – use of baler twine can be useful where the pelvis is tight
- Possibly need to sacrifice the piglet if not successful quickly – especially if there are more piglets behind this one
- Due to their nature, pigs are robust and will often survive a retained (especially macerated) piglet if given time and treatment
Describe the possible treatments to give to pigs following a difficult farrowing
- Once clear i.e. no blockage in the pelvic canal: oxytocin or carbetocin (beware the dose – always low)
- Antibiotics if assisted or retained piglet / membranes (simple penicillin)
- Anti-inflammatories +/- analgesia (NSAID or steroid)
- Calcium: not clear cut benefit
- PGF2a: induction (careful) or post farrowing for retained
When are caesareans indicated?
If totally unresponsive to inertia or obstruction
Which drugs are used for sedation in pigs for a c-section?
Azaperone, or xylazine / butorphanol
Which drug is used for GA in pigs for a c-section?
Ketamine
Describe performing a c-section in a sow
- Flank incision either side, around 10cm above udder and cranial to hindleg – extend for 20-25cm. Difficult to manipulate opposite uterine horn, but persevere
- Euthanasia + hysterectomy an alternative – in severe cases where the mother is very stressed
- No need to rush – up to 10 minutes to get piglets out
List the main post-farrowing complications in pigs
Prolapses are more likely to occur around farrowing
Compare the treatment of rectal, vaginal and uterine prolapses in pigs
- Rectal: if fresh can replace, otherwise will resolve with time
- Vaginal: often able to work through if assisting
- Uterine: enormous! Difficult to replace – take time and be patient if attempting. Can remove (!) but often euthanasia is carried out once colostrum has been obtained
Why is milk so important?
- Colostrum
- Total weaning weight of litter is linked to total milk production
- Total milk production is linked to total food intake during lactation
- Piglets want to grow!
What are some problems with milking?
Agalactia vs mastitis (all or individual glands)
Unavailability (behaviour – disease)
Piglets unable to obtain milk
Energy balance before farrowing is very important
How can you determine agalactia vs mastitis in a sow?
Need to give her oxytocin and then see if she lets milk down to determine this
MMA syndrome stands for?
Mastitis, metritis, agalactia
How is MMA syndrome managed?
Managemental in origin, and not all parts always seen
Environment (temperatures, floor quality, wetness)
Nutrition (pre farrow excess, constipation)
Water availability
Why does milking need to be monitored?
Milk production can easily be lost – does not return
Cross fostering / supplementation important
Nutrition has an enormous influence
Can have infection that gives further complications
Why drugs are used in the management/treatment of milking problems
- Anti-inflammatories (steroid for choice – allows milk to flow quickly)
- Oxytocin (or carbetocin)
- Antibiotics (broad spectrum – penicillin / streptomycin)
- Piglets (must maintain their energy to suck): colostrum substitutes – carbohydrate based
List some other problems that occur in sows around the farrowing period
- Stalling on nutrition vs ad lib
- Savaging
- Abandonment / doubling up in arcs
- Teat damage: piglets milk deciduous teeth
- Stress – environmental
Describe savaging in sows and how to prevent it
- Often down to mis-management
- Gilts that don’t understand what is happening: pain on farrowing linked to piglets produced
- Need to provide pain relief to sows to help prevent this
What are the aims of piglet management
Reduce mortality
Maximise milk intake
Maximise weaning weights
Define a stillborn piglet
One that has died in the 24hrs before farrowing
List some causes of death in piglets
- Before or during birth
- Poor viability
- Laid on
- Starve
- Weak or splayed leg
- Disease
- Savaged
How does birth weight of piglets link to their survival
Less than 0.7Kg = <40% survival to day 21
0.9Kg = 60% survival to day 21
1.1Kg = 80% survival to day 21
1.3Kg = 90+% survival to day 21
Describe the long term management of piglets considerations
Creep feeding
Routines
Vaccinations
Describe the gut development in piglets after birth
Within the first 3 weeks of life the gut:
- grows in length by 200%
- grows in weight by 300%
- grows in volume by 600%
Name 6 ‘routine’ procedures for piglets
Iron injections
Tagging / notching / tattooing
Tail docking
Teeth reduction
Injections – vaccines / treatments (why?)
Oral treatments
List the causes of scour in piglets
- Often triggered by another factor: Environment, hygiene, lack of colostrum
- Fostering can exacerbate an issue
- Gilts/sows need to have robust immunity
Name the 2 non-infectious scours of piglets
Milk scour
Nutritional scour
Describe the main features of milk scour
Often either very early on, or from 3rd week of age
GIT overload to large intestine
Self-limiting
Describe the main features of nutritional scour
Creep feed gut mismatch
Usually self-limiting
May need to withdraw creep
List 4 viral infectious causes of scour in piglets
- Rotavirus
- Porcine epidemic diarrhoea
- Transmissible gastroenteritis
- Porcine reproductive and respiratory virus
How do viral scour infections generally present in piglets
- Hugely profuse amounts of watery scour – very early onset
- Small intestinal villous atrophy
- Mortality is related to dehydration
- Secondary bacterial infection common
Why are viral scour infections difficult to treat directly?
Need to increase immunity, increase hygiene
Describe the main features of rotavirus infections in piglets
- Environmental and pig population persistence is high
- No cross immunity between the 4 strains that affect pigs
- Can present post weaning, but mortality is reduced significantly
- Often ends up with secondary infections e.g. E.coli
- Rarely a cause of mortality alone
- Difficult to control
How are rotavirus infections of piglets treated?
- Affected pigs need hydration support
- Hygiene improvements
- Environmental control – reduce chilling
- Immune boost: commercial vaccine available under SIC – varying response
Porcine Epidemic Diarrheoa (PED) and Transmissible GastroEnteritis (TGE) are both in which group of viruses?
Coronaviruses
How do Porcine Epidemic Diarrhoea and Transmissible GastroEnteritis affect piglets?
- Profuse watery scour with vomiting
- New variant PED has very high (100%) mortality under 3 weeks of age
- Affects all ages, and can be self-limiting
- Notifiable ‘light’ in England & Wales – not currently present in the UK
How does PRRS affect piglets?
- Large syndrome: piglet scour only a part
- Often only really apparent in new herd breakdowns
- Weak piglets are present, often with conjunctivitis, bruising & anaemia.
- Scour is reported as sometimes containing blood
- Linked with viraemia at birth, hence in utero infection
- The pattern for PRRS infections on farms is complex
- Some evidence of similarities to BVD infection patterns
- Modulates immune system response
Name two causes of bacterial scour in piglets
E.coli
Clostridium perfingens - type C and A
How do piglets with E.coli infections present?
- Can present at any point during lactation, but usually within the first week
- Watery scour often present, although can be flocculant / creamy – no vomiting usually
- More common indoors, though chilled arcs can predispose to when outside
Which litters are predisposed to E.coli infections?
Gilt litters
Describe the treatment for E.coli infections in piglets
- Speedy treatment is imperative (hydration, antibiotics – oral / injectable)
- Antibiotic choice based on sensitivity (apramycin, spectinomycin, TMPS, (CIAs))
- Vaccination of breeding herd (short term cover via colostrum – only lasts a few days for E.coli infections)
- Other measures (dry disinfectant powders, probiotics / yoghurt)
Clostridium perfingens type C produces?
b toxin
Describe piglets infections with Clostridium perfingens type C
- Sudden death within 24h due to acute haemorrhagic enteritis
- Usually seen outdoors, although can be indoors
How can you treat Clostridium perfingens type C in piglets?
- Type C can only be treated pre-emptively at birth - i.e. metaphylactically
- Penicillins are usually effective
- Longer term, vaccination should be employed
Clostridium perfingens type A produces?
a & b2 toxins
Describe piglets infections with Clostridium perfingens type A
Seen as a pasty scour any time during lactation, giving poor growth
How can you treat Clostridium perfingens type A in piglets?
- Difficult to control and treat: penicillins can work, but variable – maintain hydration
- Prevention can be short term metaphylaxis, or a combined vaccination is now licensed
How do piglets with coccidiosis present?
Usually affects piglets from 10-21 days of age with a pasty yellow looseness
How is coccidiosis in piglets diagnosed?
Isospora suis can be identified within the gut wall, causing physical damage to the lining
How is coccidiosis in piglets treated?
- Does not respond to treatment
- Resolves at weaning, but huge impact on weaning weight
- Hygiene is so important
- C&D challenging since the oocysts are difficult to kill
How can you reduce the impact of coccidiosis?
Hygiene is the main method of control
Oral toltrazuril treatment at ~4 days of age can resolve clinical impact – timings may need altering on certain farms, with a second dose sometimes needed one week later
Name the most common nervous disease of piglets
Bacterial meningitis
How does bacterial meningitis occur?
Often results due to bacterial penetration through ‘openings’ – navel, wounds, teeth clipping, tail docking
Name the 3 most common bacterial causes of bacterial meningitis
Streptococcus suis
Escherichia coli
Glaesserella parasuis
How do piglets with meningitis present?
- Can affect any age during lactation, although usually nearer to weaning
- Range of clinical signs, including nystagmus, opisthotonos, pyrexia, convulsions, and sudden death
How is bacterial meningitis in piglets treated and controlled?
Treatment must address the swollen brain – steroids are quickest, along with antibiotics systemically – hydration is also important
Control is through good hygiene and colostrum management of the litters
Name the 5 forms of congenital tremors in piglets
A1 – cerebellar atrophy – CSF infection
A2 – cerebellar atrophy and hypomyelinogenesis – pestivirus infection
A3 – Landrace inherited to male piglets
A4 – Saddleback recessive inherited defect
A5 – cerebellar atrophy and hypomyelinogenesis – organophosphate effect
Describe the main features of A2 - cerebellar atrophy and hypomyelinogenesis
- Intention tremor that occurs sporadically
- Often more prevalent in gilts or new herds
- Recovery often occurs naturally, as long as they can suckle
- Splay leg piglets can be seen as well
Describe the causes of lameness in piglets
- Joint ill – often associated with bacteraemia from an ‘opening’
- Splayleg – variable in onset and cause – can be supported to enable suckling
- Injuries – caught toes can be common on certain floors.
- Injuries from mum can also give trauma and / or infection that leads to lameness
Name 5 congenital abnormalities of piglets
Cleft pallet
Epithliogenesis imperfecta
Hydrocephalus
Contracted tendons
Monsters
