Eliminating Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae (MHP) doesn’t just produce benefits in downstream pig performance, it also produces benefits at the sow farm, says Lindsey Britton, a veterinary student at North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medicine. MHP is a bacteria that is the causative agent of swine enzootic pneumonia, which leads to a chronic dry cough and reduced pig performance.
“After being a part of MHP elimination on farms, the question was raised if MHP had any impact on reproductive performance of sows,” she said during her student oral presentation at the American Association of Swine Veterinarians annual meeting in San Francisco, Calif., on March 2. “We know any disease that impacts a gilt’s growth and development can have an impact on her reproductive performance, so we used this knowledge to form our objective to determine if Mycoplasma elimination had an impact on the retention rates and reproductive performance of gilts within commercial sow farms.”
A Performance Impact
Britton’s study was a retrospective analysis looking at cohorts of 10 gilts randomly selected from eight farms of similar health status at four distinct farm entry time points: two years prior to MHP elimination; one year prior; one week after; and three months after MHP elimination began. Reproductive performance of the gilts was followed from farm entry at breeding through rebreeding after their third parity, she explains.
“Gilts that entered production during the MHP eliminating period produced more total pigs, pigs born alive and pigs weaned compared with animals that entered production before MHP elimination. They also exhibited more productive days in the herd, a greater retention rate, and more litters farrowed,” Britton says.
Her study showed that MHP elimination has a positive impact on sow retention and reproductive performance, increasing the number of animals still in the herd after their third parity as well as producing more pigs total born and more pigs weaned.
“We have always considered MHP to be a pathogen commonly affecting grow-finish animals, but this study was able to establish some foundational work that MHP not only affects finishing animals but that it also has an impact on gilt retention and reproductive performance on the sow farm,” Britton says.
She believes this is one more reason why producers should consider MHP elimination.
“This could be an added incentive to go through the process to eliminate the pathogen,” Britton points out. “Eliminating MHP from a breeding herd will allow producers to retain animals for a longer period, produce more pigs, and have a potential additional profit of getting more weaned pigs out the door. The additional health benefits of downstream animals would be seen in decreased medication usage and cost, decreased time to market, and increased feed efficiency.”
Britton was one of 15 students who competed in the oral presentation contest at the AASV annual meeting. Read more here.
