Sows are the foundation of the pork supply chain, and their longevity directly affects a farm’s viability. However, pathogens that cause swine respiratory disease (SRD) and porcine proliferative enteritis (PPE, ileitis) taunt pork producers daily.
“Illness in a sow isn’t a matter of getting her recovered to perform for a few months; it’s a matter of her being able to perform for years,” says Pharmgate Technical Service Veterinarian Jeff Okones.
“So, if she does fall ill with SRD or ileitis, it’s crucial to get her treated as soon as possible before lung or intestinal lesions can form.”
Using a water-soluble antibiotic is just the way to do it, he recommends. Antibiotics administered via water are beneficial due to their speed, flexibility and effectiveness. Water-soluble medications tackle problems effectively and efficiently because one person can provide aid to an entire barn and one medication can quickly combat targeted pathogens.
Antibiotics delivered via water as a route of administration (ROA) have increased by 4% from 2011 to 2020. In 2020, water as a ROA represented 30% of antibiotic administration, Pharmgate shared in a recent release.
“Most sows will continue to drink water after they have stopped eating, so using water-soluble antibiotics can provide rapid relief for multiple pathogens,” Okones says. “Even healthy pigs consume twice as much water as feed, making water the ideal channel for delivering antibiotics.”
Water is the best way to address problems quickly, says Luke Strehle, veterinarian at Nebraska Vet Services.
“When using a prescription product as compared to a veterinary feed directive, there is one less line of communication needed to get it delivered and into pigs,” Strehle explains.
Water-soluble antibiotics are also effective against many different pathogens.
Nate Winkelman, DVM, president and co-owner of Swine Services Unlimited, says ileitis can affect developing gilts and young sows in both clinical and subclinical cases. Clinical ileitis can be life or death and needs to be treated as quickly as possible. He recommends doing that with water medication, according to the release.
Quick treatment reduces the number of intestinal lesions Lawsonia intracellularis creates, which deprive the animal of nutrients. Treating a whole pen of sows with water medication keeps feed resources geared for reproduction instead of immunity.
Water-soluble antibiotics can also be useful in an Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae (M. hyo) elimination. Amy Maschhoff, DVM, director of health and animal care for The Maschhoffs LLC, says giving an antimicrobial to the whole herd during an M. hyo elimination is incredibly helpful.
The choice of antibiotics may help with efficiency. For instance, if a porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) virus closure is at the same time, Maschhoff says, you likely won’t want to use needles. PRRS is a bloodborne pathogen, so needles would have to be exchanged for each animal. In those cases, a water-soluble option might be more effective and efficient, she points out.
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