Finishing Pig Farms Research Articles

Clinoptilolite (E567), a natural zeolite, inclusion in heavy-pig diets: Effect on the productive performance and gaseous emissions during fattening and manure storage

Intensive pig rearing systems produce several air pollutant emissions, mainly associated with housing and slurry storage. Dietary strategies based on the use of feed additives can effectively mitigate such impacts. This work has been aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of dietary zeolites in mitigating ammonia (NH3), carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from piggery and slurry storage on finishing pig farms. An experimental trial, in which three groups of approximately 500 pigs each were reared, has been carried out on a commercial pig farm. The three groups were fed the same diet, with the addition of 0 g/kg (Z0, control), 10 g/kg (Z1), and 20 g/kg (Z2) of micronized clinoptilolite (E567), respectively. The emissions from housing facilities and the live and slaughtering animal performances, were assessed. In addition, manure samples were collected during the rearing period to evaluate, at a laboratory scale, the NH3, CO2, CH4, and N2O emission potential during the subsequent slurry storage phase prior to land application. The results have shown that the addition of dietary zeolite can be considered a valid strategy to reduce gaseous emissions from pig houses without affecting animal performances or the system’s overall productivity. Treatment Z2 gave the best results and resulted in a 25% and 36% reduction of NH3 and CO2 equivalent emission fluxes, respectively, compared to those recorded for the control. The laboratory- scale experiment revealed no significant effect of dietary clinoptilolite inclusion on NH3 or the greenhouse gas emission potential during slurry storage.

Effectiveness and costs of interventions to reduce the within-farm Toxoplasma gondii seroprevalence on pig farms in the Netherlands

BackgroundThe parasite Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) is recognized as one of the major foodborne pathogens with a high human disease burden. To control T. gondii infections in pigs, European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) advises serological testing of pigs and audits of pig farms to identify risk factors for T. gondii infection. In line with this approach, the aim of the current study was to assess the effectiveness and costs of intervention measures implemented to reduce the T. gondii seroprevalence on finishing pig farms in the Netherlands. A crossover clinical trial was conducted at five case farms were their own control and the cross-over moment was the implementation of interventions to reduce risk factors. Each of the case farms had a farm-specific intervention strategy with one principal intervention measure (neutering of cats, professional rodent control or covering food storage).ResultsAll finishing pig farms (n = 5) showed a reduction in T. gondii seroprevalence within one year of implementing the intervention strategy. Cat neutering (n = 3) and feed coverage (n = 1) showed statistically significant reductions in seroprevalence. Rodent control (n = 1) did not show a statistically significant reduction. The estimated reduction in seroprevalence in response to the neutering of cats and feed coverage were 67 and 96 %, respectively.ConclusionsOur work demonstrates that it is possible to reduce the within-farm T. gondii seroprevalence within one year after interventions were implemented to reduce T. gondii risk factors. This information is essential and encouraging for policy makers, food business operators, and farmers to implement in their risk assessment and to apply to food safety control systems.

Antimicrobial use on Italian Pig Farms and its Relationship with Husbandry Practices.

Simple SummaryQuantifying antimicrobial use (AMU) in livestock using dose-based methods is useful for identifying potential risk factors related to AMU and to promote responsible AMU. Herewith, we investigated the temporal patterns and effects of several structural and management factors on AMU in a sample of pig farms in northern Italy during a period of three years. Overall, AMU showed a large variability between farms and no significantly decreasing trend. However, in several farms, a significant AMU reduction of up to two-thirds was observed. Farm size, number of farm workers, air quality, average pig mortality, and presence of pigs with undocked tails on the farm had no significant effect on AMU, whereas higher welfare standards were significantly associated with lower AMU. The analysis of antimicrobial use (AMU) data in livestock allows for the identification of risk factors for AMU, thereby favoring the application of responsible AMU policies on-farm. Herewith, AMU in 36 finishing pig farms in northern Italy from 2015–2017 was expressed as defined daily doses for Italian pigs (DDDita) per population correction unit (DDDita/100kg). A retrospective analysis was then conducted to determine the effects of several husbandry practices on AMU. Overall, AMU ranged between 12 DDDita/100kg in 2015 and 8 DDDita/100kg in 2017, showing no significant trends, due to the large variability in AMU between farms. However, a 66% AMU reduction was observed in 19 farms during 2015-2017. Farm size, number of farm workers, air quality, average pig mortality, and presence of undocked pigs on the farm had no significant effects on AMU. Rather, welfare-friendly farms had 38% lower AMU levels (p < 0.05). In conclusion, animal welfare management seems to be relatively more important than farm structure and other managerial characteristics as drivers of AMU in finishing pig farms.

Salmonella contamination in a network of 10 pig farms interconnected within the same cooperative

ObjectiveTo evaluate whether pig farms interconnected within the same cooperative share similar Salmonella contamination patterns.SettingTen finishing pig farms within a 100 km radius of a common slaughterhouse were selected. Their...

Effect of oral KETOPROFEN treatment in acute respiratory disease outbreaks in finishing pigs

BackgroundInfection with respiratory pathogens can influence production as well as animal welfare. There is an economical and ethical need to treat pigs that suffer from respiratory diseases. Our aim was the evaluation of the possible effects of oral NSAID medication given in feed in acute outbreaks of respiratory disease in finishing pigs. The short- and long-term impact of NSAID dosing on clinical signs, daily weight gain, blood parameters and behaviour of growing pigs in herds with acute respiratory infections were evaluated. Four finishing pig farms suffering from acute outbreaks of respiratory disease were visited thrice after outbreak onset (DAY 0, DAY 3 and DAY 30). Pigs with the most severe clinical signs (N = 160) were selected as representative pigs for the herd condition. These pigs were blood sampled, weighed, evaluated clinically and their behaviour was observed. After the first visit, half of the pens (five pigs per pen in four pens totalling 20 representative pigs per herd, altogether 80 pigs in four herds) were treated with oral ketoprofen (target dose 3 mg/kg) mixed in feed for three days and the other half (80 pigs) with a placebo. In three of the herds, some pigs were treated also with antimicrobials, and in one herd the only pharmaceutical treatment was ketoprofen or placebo.ResultsCompared to the placebo treatment, dosing of ketoprofen reduced sickness behaviour and lowered the rectal temperature of the pigs. Clinical signs, feed intake or blood parameters were not different between the treatment groups. Ketoprofen treatment was associated with somewhat reduced weight gain over the 30-day follow-up period. Concentration analysis of the S- and R-enantiomers of ketoprofen in serum samples collected on DAY 3 indicated successful oral drug administration.ConclusionsKetoprofen mainly influenced the behaviour of the pigs, while it had no effect on recovery from respiratory clinical signs. However, the medication may have been started after the most severe clinical phase of the respiratory disease was over, and this delay might complicate the evaluation of treatment effects. Possible negative impact of ketoprofen on production parameters requires further evaluation.

Environment, facilities, and management of hospital pens in growing and finishing pig farms: a descriptive study

ABSTRACT The objective of this study was to describe the housing system in the hospital pens on growing and finishing (GF) pig farms. This work was developed by using a questionnaire and was conducted between January and April, 2016. Forty-four GF commercial farms (a total of 41,111 animals) were involved, seeking to raise issues concerning the facilities of the hospital pens, environment, management, feeding and the reasons for transferring the animals to these accommodations. About 98% of the evaluated farms [...]

Characterization and influence of production factors on growing and finishing pig farms in Brazilian cooperatives

ABSTRACT The objective of this study was to identify and quantify, through mathematical models, the main factors of production in growing and finishing pig units linked to three Brazilian cooperatives located in Western Region of Parana State that influence the parameters of daily feed intake and feed conversion ratio. The records of 216 growing and finishing farms from 2010 to 2013, representing 1,533 batches, and totaling approximately 1,025,000 pigs, were evaluated. Thirty production factors related to the management, health, installations [...]

Evaluation of protection conferred by a Salmonella Typhimurium inactivated vaccine in Salmonella-infected finishing pig farms

The efficacy of an inactivated S. Typhimurium vaccine administered to pigs at the beginning of the fattening period was evaluated in four clinical trials (trials A, B, C and D). Faecal shedding and the systemic antibody response during fattening, as well as, the cecal contents and mesenteric lymph nodes collected after slaughtering were used to assess the outcome. Salmonella shedders prevalence in the control groups was six times higher than in the treated groups in trials A and D, both herds infected by S. Typhimurium. The risk of positive pens was also four or five times higher for the pens housing control pigs in trials A and C. Lower prevalence of Salmonella was observed in the slaughter samples from the vaccinated pigs in trial D and in the cecal content samples in trial A, when just the S. Typhimurium results were compared. The results suggest the effective homologous protection of the vaccinated pigs; however, the high humoral response elicited in the vaccinated pigs complicates their use in farms under serological surveillance programmes.

A pilot investigation of possible positive system descriptors in finishing pigs

AbstractIn this study, pig producers were identified whose practices exceeded the basic legal requirements and government recommendations for pig welfare. This novel approach was part of a larger project investigating the feasibility and benefits of the inclusion of some animal-based welfare outcome measures into the main UK pig-farm assurance schemes. A set of pig-keeping-system descriptor scores were devised through consultation with stakeholders, whereby a finishing pig farm would be classified on a scale of 1 (legislation compliance) to 5 (highest level of welfare provision) for six different elements of pig husbandry which can influence pig welfare (environmental enrichment, foraging behaviour, thermal comfort, physical comfort, tail docking and floor space provision). Animal-based observations were used to assess the welfare of a sample of between 67 and 220 pigs on 15 UK finishing pig farms, which were also classified according to the system descriptors. Scores achieved when assessing the environmental enrichment and physical comfort elements were significantly positively correlated with a qualitative assessment of good mood of the pigs and a measure of their oral manipulation and significantly negatively correlated with the prevalence of tail lesions and swollen bursae. However, there were wide variations in the prevalence of animal-based welfare outcome measures between farms with the same system descriptor score. These system descriptors are therefore not sufficient to be used alone to provide assurances on welfare. It is suggested that a combined approach of system descriptors and animal-based welfare outcome measures may be useful for providing assurances on higher levels of welfare.

Interdependence of welfare outcome measures and potential confounding factors on finishing pig farms

The factors influencing the observed prevalence of some welfare outcome measures were investigated as part of a larger project examining the feasibility and benefits of incorporating on-farm welfare outcome assessments into UK Pig Farm Assurance Schemes. All finishing pigs (>40 kg) on six farms that had pens containing 25 pigs or less were assessed for dirtiness, body lesions, tail lesions, bursitis, lameness, oral behaviour and pigs requiring hospitalisation. The overall small number of significant correlations between the measures across all farms (29 out of a possible 120) and the lack of a significant correlation between any pair of measures on all six or even five farms suggests that no measure can be reliably replaced by another. On the three farms with the highest farm prevalence of dirtiness there were significant negative correlations between pen prevalences of dirtiness and recorded tail and/or body lesions ( p < 0.02). The prevalence of pigs requiring hospitalisation was positively correlated with lameness on four farms ( p < 0.001) and tail lesions on three farms ( p < 0.005). Using a univariate general linear model the time of observation was only found to correlate with one measure, the dirtiness of the pigs ( p = 0.004), with the prevalence of dirtiness in pens on the three ‘dirtiest’ farms increasing as the day progressed. There was no effect of the stocking density, group size, time since feeding and time since straw provision on the prevalence of any of the outcome measures. It is recommended that to prevent bias in the recording of tail and body lesions farm assurance assessments are conducted on pigs with a prevalence for dirtiness of less than 17%. Lower prevalences of dirtiness are more likely to occur on some farms first thing in the morning.

The effect of sampling strategy on the estimated prevalence of welfare outcome measures on finishing pig farms

The effect of sampling strategy on the estimates of prevalence of some welfare outcome measures was investigated as part of a larger project examining the feasibility and benefits of incorporating some on-farm welfare outcome assessments into UK Pig Farm Assurance Schemes. All finishing pigs (>40 kg) on 6 farms that had pens of 25 pigs or less were assessed for dirtiness, body lesions, tail lesions, bursae, lameness, oral behaviour and pigs requiring hospitalisation. A statistical sampling methodology was applied to the data to generate 10,000 random samples for each measure, on each farm and for every possible number of sampled pens on that farm. The 95% confidence interval range, the proportion of samples outside a ‘tolerance’ range and the proportion of samples that would wrongly classify the farm with respect to a ‘threshold’ were calculated for each measure on each farm for every possible sample size. It was found that even large sample sizes were unable to accurately reflect the whole farm for measures with very low prevalences (lameness and pigs requiring hospitalisation). For the other measures, as the number of pens sampled increased, the confidence interval range and the proportion of samples outside the ‘tolerance’ range reduced. The differing inter-pen variation in prevalence on a farm gave rise to differences in accuracy of prevalence estimates between the farms. Those farms with a true farm prevalence close to the threshold required more pens to be sampled to achieve the same level of accuracy of classification as other farms with similar confidence intervals but a more extreme prevalence. The effect of sampling on the estimate of prevalence should be considered when an accurate prevalence of the whole population is required.

EFEITO DO JEJUM NA GRANJA E CONDIÇÕES DE TRANSPORTE SOBRE O COMPORTAMENTO DOS SUÍNOS DE ABATE NAS BAIAS DE DESCANSO E LESÕES NA PELE

The objective of this study was evaluate the effect of pig fasting time at farm (TJG= 9, 12, 15 or 18 hours) and the pen position into the lorry’s livestock compartment (PBO= anterior, middle or rear), deck (PPI= lower or upper) and side (PLA= left or right) on swine and carcass skin bruises occurrence and swine resting behaviour on lairage pens at abattoir. One hundred ninety two females weighing 133.1±10.9 kg from two finishing pig farms were evaluated. A high percentage of pigs with skin bruises were observed at the farm (53.7%), before loading (80.7%), after unloading (91.2%) and before slaughtering (95.8%). Pigs submitted to a TJG of 15 hours presented lower incidence of skin injuries at loading and higher incidence of injuries at downloading and the carcasses had higher incidence of lesions generated by fights when compared to pigs submitted to TGJ of 12 hours. Pigs transported in anterior lorry’s compartment had lower incidence of skin damage on carcass due to density that those transported in the middle position. It is concluded that pigs submitted to 15 hours of fasting time at farm present higher incidence of skin bruises. Pigs transported in anterior lorry’s compartment had lower incidence of skin damage than pigs hold in middle lorry’s compartment. The fasting time at farm had no effect on pigs resting behaviour in abattoir lairage pens. KEY WORDS: Carcass evaluation, heavy-weight slaughter pigs, pig skin injuries index, pig slaughter conditions, pre-slaughter management. Key words : Carcass evaluation, heavy-weight slaughter pigs, pig skin injuries index, pig slaughter conditions, pre-slaughter management

Clinical herd health, farm management and antimicrobial resistance in Campylobacter coli on finishing pig farms in Switzerland

The world-wide increase of antimicrobial resistance in micro-organisms complicates medical treatment of infected humans. We did a risk-factor analysis for the prevalence of antimicrobial resistant Campylobacter coli on 64 Swiss pig finishing farms. Between May and November 2001, 20 faecal samples per farm were collected from the floor of pens holding finishing pigs shortly before slaughter. Samples were pooled and cultured for Campylobacter species. Isolated Campylobacter strains were tested for resistance against selected antimicrobials. Additionally, information on herd health and management aspects was available from another study. Because data quality on the history of antimicrobial use on the farms was poor, only non-antimicrobial risk factors could be analysed. Statistical analyses were performed for resistance against ciprofloxacin, erythromycin, streptomycin, tetracycline, and for multiple resistance, which was defined as resistance to three or more antimicrobials. Risk factors for these outcomes – corrected for dependency of samples at herd level – were analysed in five generalised estimation-equation models. Prevalence of antimicrobial resistance among Campylobacter isolates was ciprofloxacin 26.1%, erythromycin 19.2%, streptomycin 78.0%, tetracycline 9.4%, and multiple resistance 6.5%. Important risk factors contributing to the prevalence of resistant strains were shortened tails, lameness, skin lesions, feed without whey, and ad libitum feeding. Multiple resistance was more likely in farms which only partially used an all-in-all-out system (OR = 37), or a continuous-flow system (OR = 3) compared to a strict all-in-all-out animal-flow. Presence of lameness (OR = 25), ill-thrift (OR = 15), and scratches at the shoulder (OR = 5) in the herd also increased the odds for multiple resistance. This study showed that on finishing farms which maintained a good herd health status and optimal farm management, the prevalence of antimicrobial resistance was also more favourable.