Underperformance in pigs and endemic disease in pigs Flashcards
Which pig disease is about to become notifiable (December 2015)?
Porcine epidemic diarrhoea virus (PEDV) will become a notifiable disease next month - December 2015. Recently a lower pathogenic strain noted in Germany. Big in the USA. Not currently in UK. Causes up to 100% mortality in pre-weaned piglets over 6 weeks. This disease won’t be compensated (unlike FMDV). Reason for notifiable status is that good biosecurity prevents its spread.
What are markers of pig reproduction productivity?
- litter size
- # litters
- pre-weaning mortality
What is AHDB?
= agricultural and horticultural development board. BPEX has become a part of this in recent years.
What was the aim of the Two Tonne Sow (2TS)?
to help English producers achieve an industry average of 2000kg of pig meat/sow/y by 2013.
What is the most expensive bit of a pig farm to run?
farrowing house
What proportion of production costs is pig feed?
55%
What are the 3 components of growth productivity?
- raw materials
- feed conversion
- emissions
Define DAPP/ APP
(Deadweight) Average Pig price
Describe the GnRH vaccine
- Improvac by Zoetis
- 2 injections, 4 and 8 weeks before slaughter
- reduces boar taint
- form of chemical castration
- reduces aggression
- improves growth rate
- improves quality of meat
- currently farm assurance schemes (esp red tractor) don’t allow castration and don’t allow vaccination with Improvac
- 97% farms are on a farm assurance schemes
What to consider with growth productivity?
- kill out weight
- cost of production (as some point cost of production outweighs the benefit of growth)
How does days to slaughter affect productivity?
- food conversion vs cost of feed
- overhead costs
- sex (male, female, castrate)
What are pig farmers paid on?
Pigs farmers paid on weight and back fat thickness. Both have ranges. Otherwise penalised if outside these ranges.
What should your target post-weaning mortality be?
Originally 3% but may be a little higher than this
What is pre-weaning mortality?
What is post-weaning mortality?
What is adult mortality target?
What dictates carcass quality?
- uniformity
- fat depth/mm mass/ lean weight
- underweight and overweight
Describe the lean meat EU grade percentage
The EUROP grading system 60% and above: S 55-59% E 50-54% U 45-49% 40-44% O 39% or less P
What does P1/P2/P3 mean?
these are fat depths used to estimate lean meat percentage
What is the average parity?
usually parity 7/8 depending on litter size (most profit in litter 3/4/5)
T/F: sow milk yield is often neglected
True - ensure adquate water supply. Hungry pigs = noisy!!
Pigs are weaned at how old? And what is the weight target at this age?
28 days (weight target at this age is 7kg)
What recording systems of key?
- feed/weight
- output-weight and days to slaughter
- abattoir payments (abscess, bursitis, other areas of carcass that is trimmed)
- have and use a herd monitoring/recording programme (BPHS = british pig health scheme)
What can seriously affect your feed intake?
rat colony eating the food.
How do you ensure you have optimum FCR?
- record FCR at all stages of production
- appropriate investment (new buildings, feed systems, washing systems)
- know the output capacity of your unit in kg of pig and work as close to that optimum as possible
- make sure pigs have acesss to enough clean drinking water (water flow rates, height and type of delivery units, maintain cleanliness of drinkers, especially bowls).
Outline phase feeding
What will protein under-supply lead to?
–> fail to exploit lean growth potential
What will protein over-supply lead to?
reduce growth and increase nitrogen excretion
How is pork tenderness improved?
increasing growth rate
What is a phase-feeding system?
the amount of protein relative to energy in the diet. could reduce feeding costs by b/w £0.54-£1.54/pig depending on cost of protein rich ingredients and slaughter weight.
List impacts of disease
- tx costs
- vaccination costs
- trimming out at abattoir
- mortality (+ cost of empty places)
Discuss Mycoplasma hyopneumonia
- consolidation of cranial lung lobes
- mild cough in uncomplicated cases
- great economic importance as 30-80% pigs have lesions at slaughter trade
- attacks ciliated epithelium of URT
Effects - M. hyopneumoniae
- weaned pigs (6-8 weeks old)
- increased cough
- decreased FCE
- variance in growth
- secondary infection (as mucociliary escalator not working - could lead to increased mortality)
Outline PCV2
- seen occasionally
- subclinical disease
- vaccines available (80% UK herds vaccinated)
- immunosuppressive
- usually chronic/ subclinical FCE, secondary infection
What type of virus is PRRS?
- RNA
- ss
- thus rapidly mutates
- very immunosuppressive
- lives in pulmonary alveolar macrophages
- reproductive component
Outline tx costs
- in feed (new rules in Europe are likely to prohibit this)
- in water
- individuals (AMR, healthy animals eat/ unhealthy don’t, in severe disease there is no point of in feed medication, sick animals likely to still drink)
How can welfare affect productivity?
- food/kg of pork
- more tx
- higher mortality
- increased days to slaughter
- trimming at abattoir
- lower carcass quality
- meat for processing
Questions to consider for revision
LEARNING OBJECTIVES FOR THESE TWO LECTURES:
- Pigs can under-perform in many ways. We often think about growth. what measures can we use to determine the growth of pigs
- how may endemic dz may impact growth. What other +++ (performance?) factors are impacted by disease?
- REVISION:
describe clinical features of one endemic disease and outline how it impacts performance.
- IF you don’t know take inspiration from other spp
