Sow vaccination program

Routine vaccination of growing pigs is not usually recommended but may be necessary in some pig herds. A combined parvovirus, leptospirosis and erysipelas vaccine is commercially available in Australia. Enzootic pneumonia Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae reduces growth rates and can kill pigs. It also predisposes pigs to other respiratory infections, such as porcine pleuropneumonia. The vaccine is administered to piglets but can also be used for introduced growers and breeders.

Shake the vaccine well before use. For the two-shot vaccine, the minimum age at first inoculation is one week, with the second dose given weeks after the first. Administer the second injection at least three weeks before the expected field challenge occurs.

For the one-shot vaccine, give the 2 mL dose at approximately three weeks of age. Clinically, the manifestation of ileitis can be acute or chronic. The acute form of the disease presents as a bloody diarrhoea and death. Acute ileitis mainly occurs in gilts and older finisher pigs of months of age. In contrast, in the chronic form, onset occurs more gradually and symptoms last for up to several weeks.

The chronic form is usually seen in weaner and grower pigs. The ileitis vaccine available in Australia is an attenuated live vaccine, which is given orally. The vaccine is a prescription animal remedy, which means it is only available from registered veterinarians who will outline the vaccination program for the pork producer prior to the use of the vaccine. Last updated: 17 Oct We acknowledge their continuing connection to land, waters and culture and commit to ongoing reconciliation.

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Some others that can be factors are E. Routine diagnostics help us assess where our plan is working and, also, when it needs adjustment. Disease profiles will change over time, and so too must our strategies. Bottom line: The pig will tell you much of what you need to know. So you need to have a good reason for using that vaccine, or else your risk management may be costing you productivity.

Timing is everything, and Ruen says that attention needs to be paid to the impact of active disease, maternal immunity and animal stress. In the case of the breeding gilt, we know that maternal antibody to parvovirus can interfere with active immunization if gilts are vaccinated too young. Other procedures or environmental stressors can impact the quality of the immune response as well.

Husbandry has a big impact. Producers have options to limit the stress of injectable vaccines, such as using combination vaccines or single-dose products. Oral vaccines given via the water system save labor and eliminate vaccination stress entirely.

Those live avirulent oral vaccines require regimented handling and avoidance of antibiotics during the window, as well as before, during and after administration.

As many vaccines that are available, and the number of different farm management techniques, there are also a great number of vaccination strategies that producers need to weigh what works best: multi-dose products, two doses prewean, one dose prewean, one dose post-wean, two-dose post-wean. The window to absorb antibodies is generally about 24 hours after birth. However, studies suggest that the process of suckling begins to initiate gut closure such that the period to absorb antibodies ends about four hours after the first dose of colostrum.

Any activity that interrupts the piglet's first suckling event likely reduces immunity, even if the pig gets another dose of colostrum later. After the colostrum is consumed, sow milk continues to include antibodies. While these are not absorbed into the piglets' circulation, they can bind and neutralize bacteria in the intestines and reduce the disease challenge for the piglets.

Milk replacers can provide useful supplements for energy and hydration, but they do not routinely contain antibodies that replace those found in sow's milk. While increasing a piglet's immunity to various pathogens is one important aspect of controlling disease, the other important part of balancing health is reducing the piglet's exposure to disease-causing organisms. Even if it is not possible to completely eliminate exposure of piglets to certain disease organisms, there are many opportunities to reduce the numbers of these organisms pathogenic load to which piglets are exposed.

Even if a piglet has reasonable immunity to a disease organism as a result of an excellent vaccination program, facing an overwhelming number of these organisms will consume all available maternal antibodies and may still lead to disease.

Treating pigs with antibiotics helps lessen the pathogenic load to a level that the pig's immune system can manage. If a scours problem warrants treatment in an individual pig, then consider treating all pigs within that litter since their exposure is likely to be similar.

Beginning with a clean, disinfected farrowing crate and scraping manure out from behind sows in farrowing crates every day is a good way to decrease the pathogenic load that piglets will face in the critical first days of their lives.

This protocol can help reduce the number of scours-causing organisms to which young piglets may be exposed. It can also be crucial to the reproductive performance of the sow herd.

Parturition and estrus are two periods when a sow's cervix becomes dilated. An open cervix allows for bacterial organisms from the environment to migrate into the uterus and cause reproductive failure.

Therefore, farrowing and breeding are two times when a clean environment becomes more crucial. Most operations will pressure wash farrowing rooms after weaning.

Many disinfect the rooms as well. Most disinfectants require a minimum of 10 minutes of contact time before they are effective against hardy bacteria and viruses.

Ideally, disinfect the farrowing rooms and allow them to dry overnight. Often it is necessary to move new sows into a farrowing room on the same day that the last group was weaned.

This may be necessary to avoid farrowing in the gestation stalls and maintain the flow of the system, but the rooms should still be washed and disinfected. Heaters can be turned up in the empty rooms in order to aid in the drying process. Biosecurity can go a long way towards maintaining the health of piglets within your farrowing operation.

However, the importance of internal biosecurity should not be overlooked. There are many simple protocols that will help decrease the total number of piglets affected by disease. One very simple way of decreasing disease challenge is to avoid stepping in farrowing crates.

This activity is difficult to avoid when one employee has to do all of the processing alone, as often happens on busy or understaffed farms. Piglets can be shedding pathogens before clinical signs become apparent.

Therefore, stepping into crates housing apparently healthy litters can contaminate boots and transfer disease to more pigs. When processing, if any litters show evidence of disease, such as scours, process all of the healthy litters first and then process the diseased litters.

Always clean and disinfect the processing cart thoroughly and immediately after each processing job. When done immediately, cleaning should be easier to accomplish, as fecal material will have had less time to dry in place. In many operations, it is common to use feed as a drying agent in the bottom of the processing cart.

This is less than ideal, as feed can serve as a reservoir for potential pathogens that are shed into it by piglets in the cart. In many cases, the feed will stick to piglets from other litters and allow them to carry pathogens on their bodies. When male piglets are placed back in the cart after being castrated, they will often sit down immediately, and the wet feed particles stuck to wet wound edges can impede healing. A much better option is to use a small piece of flooring raised slightly above the bottom of the cart.

This should be fitted to cover the entire bottom so that piglets are not getting caught at the edges. The floor can easily be removed after processing for cleaning and disinfecting along with the rest of the cart.