Weaner pigs Flashcards
Describe the key features for life as a suckling pig
Sheer bliss!
Environment/territory
Food reward
Trained/group feeding
Describe the process of weaning and the legal minimum for weaning
- Taken off milk
- Moved onto solid feed
- Legal minimums = 28 days
- Groups: social hierarchy (influence of batch production)
List some weaning targets in pig production
Weaned / sow > 11.5
Weaning weight > 7kg (@~28 days)
Bigger pigs fare better post weaning (not always true for older pigs)
Aiming to wean > 100kg / sow
What are the requirements for the environment of pigs post weaning
- Feed: creep feeling, little and often
- Water
- Heat
- Air movement: Don’t want draughts i.e. air movement at pig height
- Social
- Lying/dunging area
What are the environmental considerations for post-weaned pigs?
Hygiene
Temperature
Humidity – not good for respiratory systems
Zones
Ventilation – high tech monitoring available
Which factors of post-weaning management can go wrong?
- Too young / small
- Failure of gut development
- Hypothermia
- Infection pressure too high
- Stress: space, allowances
- Loss of condition – tucked in
- Navel sucking
- Vices: ear/flank biting
How should you manage piglets that are unlikely to grow and reach the sale?
Euthanasie
How should you manage piglets that are unlikely to grow and reach the sale?
Euthanase
How should you manage piglets that are will grow and reach the sale, but are of poorer health?
Specialist accommodation, feed, electrolytes, medication (not to be moved backwards into the farrowing section)
List some potential triggers of gut problems in pigs post weaning
Dietary and feeding changes
Temperature changes
Draughts
Inadequate hygiene
Overeating
Historical GIT damage
Enteric infections
Name the 2 most common causes of enteric infections in post-weaned pigs
E.coli
Salmonella
How do post-weaning pigs present with E.coli
- Sudden onset watery scour around one week post weaning
- Loss of condition – dehydration (Cant use skin tent)
- Will see sunken eyes
- Mild pyrexia and can cause some sudden deaths
Where in the GIT is affected by E.coli
Distal small intestine
Describe treatment of E.coli infections in post-weaned pigs
- Treatment needs to be swift, with diagnostics to support
- Water medication simple and effective
- Antibiotics: simplest possible apramycin, neomycin, spectinomycin. CIAs only if required
- Hygiene an important role Vaccination if appropriate
- Zinc oxide delivered in feed – time limited
How do post-weaning pigs present with Salmonella?
Low grade scour – indistinguishable from E.coli
High mortality necrotic enteritis more obvious clinically
Where in the GIT is affected by Salmonella?
Distal small intestine and large intestine affected
How is Salmonella controlled and prevented?
Control needs to be aggressive to be effective - Antibiotics
Prevention – water acidification can be best hygiene (potential vaccination)
What are some other enteric causes of problems in post-weaned pigs?
Nutritional imbalance -> microbiome effect
Early ileitis
Early colitis
Rotavirus
PCV2
PED (notifiable)
Name 5 causes of nervous disease in post-weaned pigs
Bacterial meningitis - Streptococcus suis, Glaesserella parasuis
Oedema disease – E.coli
Water deprivation
Middle ear disease
Toxicities
List the clinical signs of meningitis
Pyrexia, Nystagmus, Trembling, Collapse, Convulsions / spasms, Sudden death
How is meningitis diagnosed?
Diagnostics on post mortem via laboratory culture + typing + histopathology
Name the agent which most commonly causes meningitis in post-weaned pigs
Streptococcus suis type 2
Post-weaning when does meningitis mostly occur?
Trigger points around 2-4 weeks post weaning (humidity, stress, mixing, moving)
Often other complicating factors (e.g PRRS)
Describe treatment of meningitis in post-weaned pigs
Treatment needs to be prompt antibiotics – penicillins, florfenicol.
Anti-inflammatories (steroid) & water (per rectum), bedding, darkness, warmth, quiet
Prevention difficult – triggers, metaphylaxis (vaccination)
Meningitis is also linked to which agent as part of the systemic infection?
Glaesserella parasuis
What is the cause of oedema disease?
Shigatoxin producing strains of E.coli cause oedema of the brain, omentum, gastric mucosa and peritoneum
When does oedema disease occur, what clinical signs are seen?
Usually within a month of weaning, giving sudden deaths, convulsions, pyrexia, puffy eyelids, oedema over the skull, and high pitched squealing (laryngeal oedema)
On PME, where is oedema most obvious as a sign of oedema disease
Spiral colon mesentery
How is oedema disease treated?
- Toxins can make this difficult to treat
- Anti-inflammatories, water soluble antibiotics (in feed?)
- Often at changeover of feed, so nutrition has a role
- Vaccination an option from 4 days of age – appears relatively effective & an increase in use recently
Describe salt poisoning in pigs
Water deprivation, for any reason, causes severe dehydration
Describe the clinical presentation of pigs with water deprivation/salt poisoning
Usually in grower / finisher stage – sudden onset nervous disease in multiple pigs, odd behaviour around water points, collapse, rolling, convulsions
How should water deprivation/salt poisoning not be treated?
Rapid rehydration makes the cases worse – avoid!
Rapid rehydration gives swelling of brain – osmosis
How can water deprivation/salt poisoning be treated?
Small amounts of water every couple of hours is effective
Severe dehydration increases salt content in CSF
Steroids can help – slow rehydration is imperative (IV drips (!) if warranted)
Middle ear disease is clinically indistinguishable from?
Early meningitis
How does middle ear disease present?
Usually inner ear is affected, giving head tilt and head shaking
Can progress to meningitis, plus can stay into the later growing period
Describe the effects of Porcine Respiratory Disease Complex on weaner pigs
Coughing, Sneezing, Pyrexia, Conjunctivitis, Dyspnoea, Cyanosis
Decreased appetite -> Loss of condition
Mortality
Describe the PM findings of Porcine Respiratory Disease Complex in weaned pigs
Pleurisy, pericarditis, peritonitis, polyserositis
Describe the clinical signs of swine influenza
Acute disease with short incubation
Coughing, pyrexia, decreased feed intake, depression
Describe the epizootic form of swine influenza
Multiple ages affected, sudden onset
How is swine influenza managed/treated
- Supportive treatment can reduce impact
- Individual treatment with NSAIDs
- Group treatment with NSAIDs
- Antibiotics only if secondary bacterial disease risk
- Control can be via vaccine use (although not accurate) and biosecurity
Describe the aetiology of progressive atrophic rhinitis
- Initial rhinitis, sneezing -> destruction of the turbinates
- Pasteurella multocida type D toxin producing strain
- Increases secondary infections, leading to decreased growth
Post weaning Multisystemic Wasting Syndrome is caused by?
Porcine Circovirus type 2
Describe the clinical signs of Post weaning Multisystemic Wasting Syndrome
- Rapid loss of condition
- Generalised lymphadenopathy with immunosuppression
How is Post weaning Multisystemic Wasting Syndrome controlled?
Vaccination exceedingly effective with 95+% of the UK herd vaccinated
How can respiratory disease be controlled on farms?
- Need to stop cycling of disease between groups (age, batches, pig flow, AIAO, hygiene)
- Reduction of stress (stocking, water, feed, temperature)
- Diagnose and control specific infections (vaccination, medication)
- Eliminate certain pathogens
Name the causative agent of greasy pig disease
Staphylococcus hyicus
Describe the main features of greasy pig disease
Skin commensal, often causes clinical disease due to immunosuppression, fighting, high humidity
Loss of fluid can be fatal – non-itchy
How is greasy pig disease treated?
- Treatment with penicillins or lincomycin (injection) along with skin washes of Savlon are usually effective
- Hygiene is important for control, along with minimizing fighting and humidity
What is the cause of ear tip necrosis?
Staphylococcus infection
When does ear tip necrosis present?
Usually bilateral and dry, from around 7-12 weeks of age
How is ear tip necrosis managed?
Trigger factors are unclear, although humidity appears to play a role.
Tends to heal on its own if left – beware other pigs stopping this from happening
What is the most common skin parasite of pigs?
Sarcoptic manage - uncommon in commercial pigs
How does sarcoptic mange in pigs present?
Presents as intense pruritis, leading to dermatitis, crusting, lameness, lethargy and slowed growth
Simple to treat with ivermectins, plus bathe to stop secondary infections
Describe ringworm infections in pigs
- Not common commercially, but can appear in herds that have not seen it before
- Not particularly pruritic in pigs – Zoonotic potential
- Clears with UV light – other treatments not greatly effective
Name the condition termed ‘false ringworm’
Pityriasis rosea
Describe the main features of Pityriasis rosea
Auto-immune
Sporadic dramatic appearance at 5-7 weeks old
Non-pruritic spreading rings – no other signs
Spontaneously resolves – inherited
