Pig Production - Managing Helath

Question 1

Advancing pig welfare for 2020 and 2030

Answer 1

• Safe pig meat (no vet meds, pesticide residues, zoonotic pathogens) = withdrawal periods
• Free of enzootic and exotic diseases
• Responsible use of antimicrobials
• Develop and promote new knowledge
• Integrated approach to improving pig health and welfare
• Role of microbes / disease surveillance
• Promote professional skills / transparent / trusted
• Sustainable feed / impact on environment
• AMR / biosecurity / food safety / significant diseases
  ~ vaccination reduces risk of food borne illnesses (e.g. salmonella, hepatitis E, trichinella, campylobacter and Escherichia coli)
  ~ maximises production by preventing/reducing production losses from enzoonotic/exotic disease
• Encourage use of data and new technologies
  Partnership working

Question 2

Improving preparedness

Answer 2

• one of the Pig Health and Welfare 2020 strategic themes

- examines current pig health issues, surveilance for outbreaks and emerging disease and biosecurity

Question 3

Previous forums and strategic themes

Answer 3

• zoonoses national control plan steering group
• food safety
• pig health
• survalence
• biosecurity
• welfare
• medicine

Question 4

New strategic themes

Answer 4

• enchancing pig meat food safety (encomp zoonoses national control plan steering group and food safety)
• improving preparedness for exotic and emerging diseases (encomp pig health, surveilance and biosecurity)
• enhancing pig welfare
• reducing antimicrobial use in pig meat production

Question 5

Animal Health and Welfare strategy for GB 2004 - 3 Ms

Answer 5

section 5
- Measure = performance data obtained from communication of inspection results (CCIR), pig health scheme, farm performance recods and eMedicines book
~ standardd recomendation of the code of practice for welfare of pigs and requirement of Red Tractor scheme (90% british pigs part of)
- Manage = writen in conjunction with animal health professionals and should adopt evidence based best practices beyond that of simply participation in asurance schemes
~ protocols and control plans (topics inc: biosecurity, euthanasia, the use of veterinary medicines, husbandry procedures such as tail docking and parasite control)
- Monitor = herd health planning proactive and dynamic in response to current and emerging endemic and exotic diseases
~ surveilance and forecasting valuble as well as planned reviews
~ potential disease outbreak at farm level as well as global disease e.g. ASF
~ aim to keep animals/humans/enviro healthy and meeting societu expectations of animal welfare and traceability

Question 6

Measuring herd health

Answer 6

• identify what challenges already present on farm
• reactive measures
  ~ clinical endemic disease (positive identification from outbreaks and testing)
  ~ identification of subclinical diseases (through testing and slaughter data)
  ~ real time PCR for enteropathogenic e.coli = identify pathogens on farm zoonotic risk or currently causing sub clinical illness
• proactive measures
  ~ production performance bench marking (KPIs) e.g. growth rates feed intatkes, FCR, mortality
• production performance of pigs is measured as growth (body weight change), carcass quality, fertility, morbidity (diseases) and mortality
• benchmark against national and international level data to determine health status of herd
• see if piigs growing at genetic potential

Question 7

Why is it beneficial to measure herd health

Answer 7

• from info, design vaccination strategies to help prevent against clinical disease outbreak (e.g. e.coli associated with post weaning diarrhea)
• pathogen identification help design treament protocols and prevention startegies (e.g. post mortem identified colitis which may be a wider problem in herd)
• post mortem from fallen stock or CCIR (not detailed) = AHDB launched Pig Health Scheme to feedback higher resolution data from pigs at the abattoir back to farmers to inform health plans

Question 8

Managing herd health

Answer 8

• biosecurity
• control heasures
• vet meds
• euthanasia
• normaly include standard operating procedures and require staff training to ensure competance in use of practical methods

Question 9

Biosecurity

Answer 9

~ prevention bettre than cure
- Closed herd = animals coming/leaving biggest risk spreading disease
~ replacement stock bred on site
~ if need to bring in stock = know general health/specific disease status of the unit the animals are coming from (reduce risk brining in new pathogens)
~ only source stock from units that share common endemic conditions
~ AI = boars not required to be transposted between units
- Cleaning / hygiene = only DEFRA approved disinfectants
~ routines defined in conjunction with info on product lable specifying use and dilution rates
~ steam/pressure wash unit, drying, disinfect and resting period before new stock enter
- Vaccinations
- Visitor / staff policy
~ boot dips
~ health questionaire ensure no vomit of diarrhea
~ hand washing facilities
~ no food consumption/smoking
- Rodent control
~ site surveys, control measures
~ procedure for disposing dead rodenst
- Fallen Stock
~ procedure for disposal
- Fomites = e.g. vehicals and clothing
~ feed lorries and pig transport should not be alowed inside of biosecurity parameter = loading bays so pigs board in designated area
~ washing vehicles that transport animals
- Parasite control
- Isolation pens / quarantine = incoming animals to detect disease
~ idealy 3/4 weeks and give vaccines and vet meds such as wormers

Question 10

Biofilms

Answer 10

= 3D microbial community, gel together in polysaccharide protective matrix, attached to surface
- adavnce = use of organic acids in drinking water , cleaning lines
- risk of disease if lines not clean, need to PCR test e.g. Yersinia enterocolitica
- after cleaning, PCR test again and no bacteria present
- pen side testing = real time info for pathogens
~ rapid testing advancing over next decade and help reduce cases of disease

Question 11

Antimicrobials

Answer 11

• The electronic medicine book (eMB-Pigs) was launched in May 2016 = enables pig producers to record their antibiotic usage and monitor usage trends over time
• enables producers to benchmark their usage against similar farms
• Antibiotic use in farm animals is measured as ‘milligrams per Population Correction Unit’ (mg/pcu)
• xx mg divided by xx kg = xx mg/PCU
• work out over a calander year
• e.g. 50mg/PCU = over a year 50mg antibiotic active ingredient used for every kg of body weight at time of treatment
• Usage of antibiotics on pig farms in 2017 estimated = 131 mg/PCU, down from 278 mg/PCU in 2015.
• Through a combination of efforts we steadily reduced that to 104 mg/PCU against a 2020 target of 99 mg/PCU in 2020. The current target is a further 30 % reduction by 2024 taking the sector down to 73 mg/PCU.

Question 12

Antibiotic use on farm

Answer 12

HAU
- 2017 usage of antibiotics minimal (single figures of amoxicillin and lincomycin used primarily for one off injections for lame pigs)
- end of 2017 = destock unit and restock with new herd at start of 2018
- went from 3mg/kg to almost 50mg/kg antibiotic active ingredient per wt of pig in 2018
~ new herd exposed to pathogens endemic on unit
- first two quarters we were using between 150 and 200 mg/PCU of amoxicillin delivered in the water
~ other option feed but not use = sick pigs dont want to eat but will still drink
~ medicate feed would mean doubling amount active ingredient compared to dosing water
- largely reduced the problems by the middle of 2018 and were controlling smaller outbreaks of the Glässer Disease with under fifty mg/PCU every quarter which has continued through 2019 and 2020
- pig industry good at not using human critical antibiotics = worried developing resistance to
~ 2019 use of Highest Priority Critically Important Antibiotics in UK pigs was only 0.04% of all antibiotic use

Question 13

Reducing antibiotic usage

Answer 13

• in feed ab = high usage
• in water ab = reduced
  ~ requires significant infrastructire
  ~ idealy use biosecurity, vaccination strategies = move onto injectable ab
• injectable ab = targeted

Question 14

The case of zinc oxide

Answer 14

• Three POM-V products available
• used at therapuetic levels to prevent/treat post weaning diarrhea
• Some countries do not use it (alturnative products)
• Dutch report highlights environmental bulid up concerns (only 10% digestable)
• 2017 Euopean Medicines Agency reviewd safety and effectiveness of zinc oxide
  ~ benefit risk balance = negative
  ~ withdrawal of the existing marketing authorisations for veterinary medicinal products containing zinc oxide
• Five year withdrawal period in the EU (use in the UK before the ban was 70 – 90 % of UK pigs)
• dont want to see removal of zinc oxide as driver for increased ab use
• need to Develop a best-practice plan for weaner management without the use of therapeutic zinc oxide
• antibiotics at subclinical levels used to be given as growth promotors but banned in 2006 under feed additive regulations
• now not given to promote growth or increase yield and not used routinely or compensate poor hygine, husbandry, lack of care, poor management. oor for prevention of diseases

Question 15

Zinc oxide to control post weaning diahhea

Answer 15

• risk factors for PWD vary between farm to farm = require unit specific review of weaner management
• most of problem comes from dysbiosis caused by abrupt weaning at 3-4 weeks of age

(more on slides in folder)

Question 16

Does zinc oxide reduce microbiome diversity

Answer 16

• yes
  Study from stephen: analysisng richness of gut microbiota
• Samples (faecal) were collected from pens of pigs at day 42 of age.
• These were sequenced on a MiSeq targeting the 16S rRNA gene.
• Sequence reads were trimmed, filtered, merged and chimeras removed using DADA2 in R.
• Unique sequences were clustered into an RSV table using DADA2 and taxonomy assigned using the Silva database.
• Alpha diversity (number of different operational taxonomic units) was calculated using the Shannon, Simpson (and other) diversity measures, using phyloseq in R
• significant reduction in richness in faecal sample of pigs that recieved ZnO treatment

Question 17

Microbiome and how do we asses it

Answer 17

= The microorganisms in a particular environment (including the body or a part of the body)

= The combined genetic material of the microorganisms in a particular environment

• site and time specific
• pglet gut at 5, 7 and 9 weeks of age
• looking at jejunum, illium and caecum and colon
• vary in levels of prevotella streptococcus and lactobaccilus as well as others

Question 18

Functions of gut and gut physiology

Answer 18

• nutrition digestion/absorption
• immunity
• regulation appetite (satiety genes)
  ~ stomach = hydrochloric acid and pepsinogen to break down food
  ~ duodenum = salts and enzymes added to mix, neutralise stomach acid, lots of vili some nutrient absorption
  ~ ilium = immunity, peyers patches = clumps of imune cells, prevent backflow of ceacum of microbiota comming into ilium and being absorbed, not many vili
  ~ caecum = fermentation and most microbiota live
  ~ spiral colon = water absorbed

Question 19

How do we assess microbiome

Answer 19

• defnition used depends on how assess microbiome
• live microbiota = grow and count under microscope
• characterise DNA = ~ extract dna from sample
  ~ sequence
  ~ bioinformatics to cluster up into taxonomic units OTUs
  ~ database to identify what they are and create a table for samples
  ~ link to phynotypic data to find out wether actual bacteria levels are changing in response to an enviro variable
  ~ produce graphs, heat maps and clustering analysis
  ~ culture independant analysis = dont need to grow bac, look at genetic material

Question 20

Influencing the microbiome

Answer 20

• prebiotics = a substrate that is selectively utilized by host microorganisms conferring a health benefit (FOS, GOS, Inulin, B-glucans)
• probiotics = living bac (lactobacillus, yeasts, streptococcus, bifidobacteria)
• antimicrobial compounds (antibiotics and zinc oxide)
• synbiotics = combination of add a prebiotic with a pronbiotic if complementary
  ~ products which prebiotic selectively favours probiotic compound
• symbiotics = two separate independant ones (one prebiotic that doesnt affect probiotic)

Question 21

Non carbohydrate based prebiotic example

Answer 21

Deviguard
= a natural performance enhancer which contains a balanced mixture of encapsulated fatty acids. It has been developed by Devenish to ensure the maintenance of an efficient digestive system in weaner, grower and finishing pigs

Question 22

Zootechnical additives

Answer 22

• the following functional groups are included:
• digestibility enhancers: substances which, when fed to animals, increase the digestibility of the diet, through action on target feed materials;
• gut flora stabilisers: micro-organisms or other chemically defined substances, which, when fed to animals, have a positive effect on the gut flora;
• substances which favourably affect the environment;
• other zootechnical additives.
• feed additives still need to prove efficacy and safety
• cocidostats under EU law not considered vet meds = grouped as feed additives

Question 23

Gut flora stabalisers

Answer 23

• gut flora stabalises if registered in EU will be included in register of feed additives = authorised product

Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Enterococcus faecium  
Pediococcus acidilactici 
Bacillus subtilis 
Bacillus amyloliquefaciens
Bifidobacterium animalis ssp.
Clostridium butyricum
Lactobacillus salivarius ssp. salivarius 
Lactobacillus helveticus
Lactobacillus acidophilus 
Lactobacillus delbrueckii ssp. lactis

Question 24

Probiotics

Answer 24

= live cultures of microorganisms (e.g., yeast, fungi, and bacteria) that are added to the diet to improve the balance of microbial communities in the gastrointestinal tract.

• Defined probiotics consist of single strains or mixtures of comprehensively described microorganisms
• Undefined probiotics tend to consist of microbial mixtures that are not completely described.

FAO and WHO definition of probiotics as:
“live micro-organisms that, when administered in adequate amounts, confer a health benefit on the host
- adequate amounts normaly 10^9 billion of the organism but can vary but need to be in large amounts
- a lot destroyed when enter stomach conditions and enzyme breakdown in small intestine
- other technology = encapsulate probiotics to ensure arive in large intestine where used the most in safe way

Question 25

Benefits of probiotics

Answer 25

• increase the population of beneficial micro-organisms including lactobacilli and bifidobacteria
• which then inhibit growth of harmful micro-organisms by producing inhibiting substances (bacteriocins and/or organic acids) and by competitive exclusion.

Question 26

Monitoring and review

Answer 26

• Herd health planning should be proactive and dynamic in response to current and emerging endemic and exotic diseases. - Surveillance and forecasting can be valuable tools, in addition to planned reviews (e.g. Red Tractor quarterly inspections)
• Significant Disease Charter = farmers can sign up (for things such as swine dysentery)
  ~ local farms notified if outbreak in area and know if have to take steps to prevent
• NADIS (national animal disease information service can provide parasite forecasts = particular geographic areas/weather likely to increase amount pathogens in enviro
• Pig Health and Welfare Council = disease surveillance through disease surveillance sub group (e.g. ASF, exotic diseases, domestic endemic diseases flare up)

Question 27

GOS

Answer 27

= Galacto-oligosaccharides
- derived from lactose
- reaches large intestine and consumed by probiotic bacteria and help thrive (in particular Bifidobacteria and Lactobacilli)
- as friendly bac thrive, less room for harmful bac
- bac ferment GOS small chain FA (e.g. acetate, lactate)
- SCFA reduce ph in gut (more acidic) = reduce ability for harmful bac to take hold
- SCFA acetate and lactate food for good bac and converted to other SCFA (butyrate, proprianate) = source of energy for endothelial cells and encourage secretion of mucin (mucin layer protective), support immune system by promoting formation of regulatory T-cells and chemical messengers to suppress inflamatory responses
- SCFA can inhibit harmful bac through antimicrobial action = damage to cell mem or directly with metabolic processses
- SCFA improve absorption of minerals (Ca, Fe, Mg) = lowering gut ph
- GOS directly benefit gut by modulation of immune sys = interact with gut wall cells = increase integrity of gut to resist inflamatory gut bowel diseases
- GOS with bifidanobacteria = suppress allergic inflam
- adding GOS to infant formula = match benefits of breast milk
~ help gut to mature in babies, reduce colic and improve stool consistancy
~ prevent infections and allergic reactions
- GOS prevents imbalance of bacteria as we age = slow down deterioration of immune sys and promote good digestive health
~ improve absorption of minerals