By Will Fombelle, DVM, Carthage Veterinary Service Ltd.
The pork production industry continues to evolve and increase its efficiency. As systems and operations grow larger, the demand for field specialists increases. This is especially apparent in the fields of swine health and nutrition where the need for swine-focused professionals is crucial.
Oftentimes I come into a situation that might be multifaceted and require more than veterinary expertise. As we move into a more vertically integrated industry, progressive swine producers and swine production systems might employ a veterinary and/or a nutrition team. As an employee of Carthage Veterinary Service, I am fortunate to collaborate with several other layers of expertise who can provide guidance to help solve problems. These individuals include nutritionists, researchers, production managers and data scientists. As we will see in the following case example, it is important to lean on available resources to help solve problems, especially if the situation might be outside your expertise or comfort zone.
A Case Study
An 8,000-head nursery site in a low pig dense area presented with a history of elevated death loss, ear necrosis, lameness and clinical signs of neurologic disease and septicemic. This is a “hotel style” nursery divided into eight rooms that contain approximately 1,000 nursery pigs per room. Pigs at this site are 20 to 30 days of age that spread across 10 days of production from the source sow farm.
Pigs across all eight rooms show similar clinical signs of disease, however some variance between each room is noted. The younger rooms of pigs seem to be the least affected, however they still show clinical signs.
Ear necrosis and lameness are the most evident clinical signs after evaluating these pigs on site. Ear necrosis is measured at 30% prevalence at this site, which is extremely high and not usually noticed in this pig flow normally. Pigs are obviously challenged, however other usual factors that attribute to ear necrosis are not appreciated — quality environment, stocking density, feed and water availability, or a disease break.
Visiting with the site caretaker it is quite evident the severe lameness is not typical to this site or pig flow and there is something different with this group of pigs. After a quick initial evaluation of these lame pigs, it is quite apparent these pigs are suffering from broken bones. The site has already pulled out and euthanized approximately 60 pigs with broken legs and there are another 20 pigs in need of humane euthanasia. Necropsy of these affected pigs reveals clinical signs of septicemia and pneumonia, which is not abnormal for this pig flow as there is a common occurrence of Streptococcus suis and affected pigs will exhibit the neurologic and septicemic signs.
The most intriguing discovery upon necropsy is the number of pigs with weak ribs that do not break upon manipulation. The ribs feel like rubber to the touch. A typical pig’s ribs upon necropsy will be quite hard and tough. Normal young pig ribs will snap and break fairly easy with enough manipulation.
Putting together these unique clinical signs of broken bones and weak ribs, it is apparent these pigs have not received the proper amounts of vitamins and minerals normally provided by their feed rations. Diagnostic samples were collected from the site, including tissue, bone, blood and feed, and submitted to a veterinary diagnostic laboratory.
Seeing the need for additional expertise, I was able to discuss the case with this producer’s nutrition team. We immediately took the precaution to remove the feed currently onsite and replace it with newly manufactured feed. Water medication was administered to help reduce the clinical signs of neurologic disease and septicemia while we awaited results from the diagnostic and feed labs.
Diagnostic results from the veterinary diagnostic lab showed a pretty straightforward case of bacterial meningitis and bacterial pneumonia along with large abscesses in a few of the affected joints. These results were not unexpected after evaluation of the site.
Feed Testing Results
The results from the feed testing laboratory were quite interesting. We submitted five separate feed samples from the highest affected rooms:
- 80% of the samples appeared to not contain supplemental Limestone.
- 40% of the samples appeared to not contain supplemental salt.
- Samples appeared to be low in Copper and Zinc.
Diet Execution
After evaluating an internal record system of feed manufacturing it was apparent these pigs did not receive the proper budget of early nursery feed rations compared to targets. Rooms that were the worst affected received the lowest amount of starter diet compared with the target and the more mildly affected rooms appeared to receive the closest amount of starter diet relative to budgeted amounts. It was also apparent these batches of feed did not receive the proper amount of VTM (vitamin and trace minerals) compared with the feed budget requirements.
Summary
This case is an example of how many cases in swine medicine are not as straightforward as you initially believe. Very often a curveball is thrown and you must react and respond accordingly. I am fortunate to work closely with several swine nutrition experts in our business or the swine industry. Being able to flex and bring in another specialist provides great value and shows clients you are focused on solving problems, whether it be related to health or other areas of their business.
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