The Sunday News
Mhlupheki Dube Farming Issues
THIS week we will discuss infectious diseases in pigs and more specifically in piglets. I have received numerous enquiries about various aspects from pig producers and this is my belated Christmas gift to you swine producers! Piglets mark the growth of your enterprise; the bigger the number the better and it’s no surprise therefore that one of the critical selection traits in pig production is the litter size. This refers to the number of piglets born to a sow (female pig). Good sows will give you litter sizes of between 13-15 piglets. Piglets, however, tend to be affected by a number of diseases which need proper management to prevent and minimise mortalities. Some of the diseases are discussed below.
Birth diarrhoea
Symptoms
Acute diarrhoea in newborn piglets up to the age of one week. The piglets show very watery, yellow-grey diarrhoea (can be overlooked in the beginning, so thorough checking is necessary). Within a short time, the piglets become thin with sunken eyes due to dehydration. The piglets huddle together and develop a pale yellowish colour. Death can occur within two or three days. Sometimes some piglets may even die within a day and before any diarrhoea is observed. The causative agents are E.coli bacteria and sometimes viruses.
Therapy
The whole litter should be treated with antibiotics given orally and/or by injection. Fresh drinking water with electrolytes should be available throughout the day.
Hygiene is very important in the treatment of diarrhoea. Drugs never solve a E.coli problem, they only help temporarily. Such problems have to be solved through hygiene, management and prevention.
Prevention
Prevention is based on:
· Vaccination: At farms with a persistent birth diarrhoea problem, vaccination is carried out at about 60 and 90 days of gestation. This prevents E.coli problems during the first two or three weeks of the piglets’ lives via colostrum intake (maternal immunity).
· Sufficient colostrum production: A piglet is only able to obtain antibodies from colostrum during the first 36 hours of its life. After this time, the intestines are no longer able to absorb antibodies from the milk. It is therefore very important that piglets receive large quantities of colostrum very soon after birth.
· Hygiene: Good hygienic measures are necessary to lower infection pressure. The all-in, all-out system should be followed to prevent problems from spreading from older litters to younger litters; problems continue and build up and become worse. Remove faeces daily, keep pens dry, de-worm and wash the sow before moving to the farrowing house.
Fat scours
Other names for fat scours are fat diarrhoea, white diarrhoea or steatorrhoea. These are very common in piglets.
Symptoms
Fat scours occur in piglets of between two to four weeks old. The piglets are not very sick and the litters of gilts are not more susceptible than the litters of older sows.
Typically, piglets with diarrhoea and piglets with normal faeces will be found in the same litter, although usually morbidity is high. The initial clinical sign is pasty diarrhoea that changes to become more liquid. The faeces are white to yellow in colour, but can also be brownish or greyish, and are fatty or creamy. Blood is not present.
The diarrhoea lasts for up to five or six days. The piglets usually continue to nurse, but develop a rough hair coat, some become dehydrated, and have low weight gain.
The severity of the diarrhoea varies from one litter to the next. Mortality is low, although in some cases concurrent bacterial, viral or even other parasitic infections may result in high mortality and complicate a diagnosis.
Cause
A coccidium, Isospora suis, an intracellular parasite that goes through stages of development inside the host animal (small intestine) as well as in the external environment. Studies indicate that sows are not the primary source of Isospora infection in nursing piglets. The most important source of infection is the environment.
Infected piglets excrete more than 100 000 oöcysts per gramme of faeces, which are highly resistant to external influences, and the environment in the farrowing houses is favourable for rapid sporulation and transmission of the disease.
Therapy
The disease generally disappears without treatment in five to seven days. It helps to remove creep feed for a few days. Oral treatments prescribed by a veterinarian may be administered and this may provide relief while the piglets build up their own immunity. Under unfavourable conditions, the disease may get more severe with watery faeces and sick piglets, but rarely with mortality. In such cases, antibiotics can be administered.
Prevention
Eradication of coccidia is impossible because the oocysts of Isospora suis are resistant to the majority of common disinfectants. So separating a piglet from their faeces and from that of other litters is very important, together with farm hygiene measures as cleaning pens correctly. Using high-pressure hot water gives good results in control and field conditions.
We will continue next week with discussions around more piglets diseases as space may not allow me to exhaust all in one instalment.
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