Rotavirus may be common throughout the U.S. swine population, but piglet infections on a given farm doesn’t have to be inevitable. There are methods and tools to fight the virus.
Rotavirus-induced scours is complex, because presence of the virus alone isn’t enough to lead to clinical infection. The piglet most likely to experience severe illness — in the 2- to 7-days-of-age range — needs to also be susceptible to infection, through lack of immunity, environmental stressors, an overwhelming viral challenge to its still-developing immune system or a combination of these.
Tackling rotaviral challenges today is shifting away from simply treating an outbreak, to more aggressive preventive measures. Treatment has frequently consisted of antibiotics — and this doesn’t work on a virus. Moreover, unnecessary antimicrobials can actually wipe out beneficial bacteria in the piglet’s gut that help maintain its developing immune system and appetite.
Boosting Biosecurity
Done right, sanitation and hygiene are highly effective tools for keeping rotavirus at bay in the farrowing space. Ask yourself when cleaning between litters: Is the crate completely free of organic matter on which rotavirus (and other pathogens) can survive? Are you lifting dividers, getting into corners and under the crate where manure and other matter can build up? Also:
● Clean with hot water — heat helps denature rotavirus
● Use degreasters or detergents that also destroy biofilm buildup
● Rotate your disinfectants and use different classes of them, to discourage pathogenic resistance
● Whitewashing using an alkaline base that alters the pH of surfaces helps kill pathogens
Your goal is to make all farrowing surfaces hostile to rotavirus but safe for the sow and piglets. In addition, clean farrowing hallways and other high-traffic areas such as wean pig chutes before and after sows move through the farrowing room. Other measures to consider:
● Cover or change footwear when moving from hallways and other areas into the farrowing crate
● Change gloves between handling different litters
● If a litter is scouring, handle non-scouring litters first (and change gloves)
● It may not be necessary to ban cross-litter fostering on your farm, but it’s something to seriously consider if you want to do absolutely all you can to limit potential transmission — talk with your veterinarian
Keeping piglets warm, dry and fed also goes a long way toward discouraging infection. This might include drying agents, adjusting height and intensity of heat lamps and even administering an oral drench for moisture and electrolytes if necessary. Of course, the first focus for providing the piglet with nutrition should be on sow wellness — if she’s comfortable and eating and drinking well to produce plenty of milk, hungry piglets are far more likely to thrive.
Vaccination is King
Effectively fighting rotavirus infection, however, starts much closer to the piglet and the maternal antibodies it receives through colostrum and subsequent milk. In fact, the primary way to protect your piglets from rotaviral scours is through a healthy sow with pre-farrow vaccine. Although some producers prefer using feedback for sows, the resulting immunity usually only works in cycles and can still leave gaps for piglet scours — vaccine-induced immunity is more even and dependable.
Because there are different killed vaccines to immunize against rotavirus, especially if you are experiencing chronic scours in your litters or see a spike despite using a rigorous pre-farrow vaccine schedule, it’s important to conduct diagnostic tests for the viral strain responsible. Rotavirus consists of several species that can each mutate rapidly; this means you may need to change your vaccine or even have your veterinarian prescribe an autogenous one.
I recommend having a diagnostic sequence performed every 3-6 months even if you’re not seeing scours, since I believe it’s better to be proactive and prevent illness and mortalities rather than wait for clinical infection to land in your crate.
And to be really proactive, start boosting your sow’s immunity when she’s still a gilt. While acclimating her to the sow herd, expose her to rotavirus and vaccinate before she’s bred. This ensures the pre-farrow vaccination and/or feedback are not her first exposure — which can mean possible illness and diarrhea — and are instead just another layer to her immunity toward creating strong maternal antibodies.
Reflection = Good for ROI
In addition to diagnostics to isolate the specific rotaviral strain(s) on your farm, I advise regularly reviewing cleaning, handling and sow and piglet care practices in your barn.
One aid to doing this is to monitor metrics; in fact, you may already be collecting this data and can put it to work right away. Keep track of how many litters, and piglets in those litters, are showing scours, and which sows so you can note patterns. Other data to use are scours mortalities, of course, but also low wean weights as well as inconsistent growth among piglets in the same litter or of whole litters at wean time. If diagnostics show your vaccines are up-to-date for rotavirus present in your operation, go observe the people doing the work and be sure your protocols are working — and being followed.
So much of piglet health success rests on a farm’s staff sticking to successful processes, daily. If I’m visiting a farm that is having scours issues, I take time to observe workers handling the farrowing, piglets and sow care, as well as those washing and disinfecting, administering pre-farrow vaccines and more. The solution is sometimes as simple as a change to materials or retraining on correct procedure. Similarly, if you hire new or reassign someone to do a different job, it’s a good idea to check in when they begin to make sure they are trained and doing their task properly.
Our industry has a number of tools to wean healthy, productive piglets — but only if they’re effectively and consistently used. Invest wisely in sow immunity, track and measure outcomes for success and review diagnostics and biosecurity protocols regularly.
