by Evan Koep, DVM, Pipestone
Producers often think of disease in two words: bugs and drugs. Bugs are the disease and drugs are the medication to treat the disease. When bugs and drugs are used, it means that disease was present and needed to be treated. How do we prevent disease in the first place? Then, how do we stop the disease cycle? And how do we lessen the performance drag of disease and maximize revenue?
Let’s take a step back and look at the big picture of animal health in your operation. Is your pig flow designed to prevent disease spread between groups, start pigs better at weaning and maximize pigs’ performance potential? Rethinking the pig flow and operation design may fix issues or improve performance. Don’t be afraid to think outside of the box and try something new. Just because “that’s how we’ve always done it” does not mean that’s how we need to operate today.
Big-Picture Design
How your operation is designed matters. This includes your pig source and where and how the pigs are placed. Fundamental goals to improve health and performance include:
| Goal: | Why It Matters: |
| All in/All out by site | • Limits disease to a single group • makes for easier and more successful disease clean up, if needed |
| Single source | • All pigs on the site carry the same bugs • Not spreading disease between source groups |
| Single age groups | • Prevents the spread of disease from older pigs to younger pigs |
| Minimizing age spread within groups | • Limits the compounding effect of the disease from older pigs to the youngest pigs • Easier to start pigs • Better match of the right diet to right age of pig • Impact of long fill times can equal $0.25+/pig for each added day of fill time due to mortality and production drag |
| Consistent, healthy pig source | • Healthy pigs perform better than sick pigs • Consistent source allows you to know the health status and be familiar with what to expect |
| Biosecurity | • Prevents disease spread • Needs to be thorough, but practical • Fundamentals such as entryway benches and shower in/shower out work |
A Case Study
A producer in South Dakota had 15% to 20% mortality groups for almost two years after the pig source eliminated porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS). The producer sourced pigs from one farm, but housed six different age groups on one site. This setup had worked well for over 10 years, but the introduction of PRRS changed everything.
The site was emptied to break the chain of PRRS infection, then the flow was redesigned to create fewer age groups on the site. Having fewer age groups decreased the performance drag of all groups, but also increased the chance of cleaning up diseases such as PRRS should it be introduced again. Since making these changes to their pig flow, the producer’s wean-to-market mortality has been normalized between 4% to 7%.
Pig flow plays a crucial role in the health of the operation. Striving for all-in/all-out sites, a fast fill with a large pig source, and a larger, 24-day-old pig at weaning have proven to be successful. Consult with your veterinarian on areas to improve your health, reduce the need to use antibiotics and increase your bottom line.
More from Farm Journal’s PORK:
How is Undiagnosed Respiratory Disease Affecting Your Swine Herd?
Producers Open Up About Biosecurity in Wean-to-Market Barns
Scott Dee Announces Retirement; Reflects on Top 10 Lessons Learned
