Dr. Mike Seridan named 2005 Swine Practitioner of the Year

Posted in: Prairie Swine Centre by admin on January 1, 2005 | No Comments

Each year since 1977 the American Association of Swine Veterinarians (AASV) has recognized outstanding swine practitioners who demonstrate exceptional service to their veterinary clients. The Award is the Association’s highest honor. Dr. Sheridan is a partner and owner of Sheridan, Heuser, Provis Swine Health Services with offices in Steinbach and Winnipeg, Manitoba. Mike, along with his three veterinarian partners, five associate veterinarians, and eight support staff provide veterinary care and management advice to a large portion of the swine farms throughout Manitoba.

Dr. Sheridan started his career in Selkirk, Manitoba in 1977 after graduating from the Ontario Veterinary College that same year. Mike worked in a mixed, large animal practice until 1988 when he and Dr. Walter Heuser formed a partnership focused on swine disease and management. A new concept at the time, the specialized swine practice grew involving clients throughout western Canada and internationally.

Throughout his career, Dr. Sheridan recognized the value of being involved in providing leadership to his profession and the industry. As early as 1982, Mike was preparing home study courses on herd health for the Manitoba Department of Agriculture. Finding like minds in innovative swine management lead Mike to be one of the founding members of the VIDO Swine Technical Group. Mike has served on the Manitoba Pork Council Welfare Committee, the American Association of Swine Veterinarians (AASV) Welfare Committee, as a member of the Board of Directors for AASV for 6 years, and most recently Dr. Sheridan serves on the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association executive.

We asked Mike what was his secret to success in his practice. “Having the answers when your clients need them is important. I have a very good liaison with the other swine practitioners in Canada and the US, this is an invaluable resource for our client base.”

Mike and his partners are very passionate about continuing education, devoting time and energy to stay informed in their industry and providing opportunities for their clients to access information readily through meetings organized at their clinic, producing courses and even videos. Sheridan, Heuser, Provis Swine Health Services continue to be actively involved in the evolution of the industry, serving on committees, contributing their energies and financial resources to new projects like the Pork Interpretive Gallery. Dr. Sheridan notes “After years of creating biosecurity barriers to visitors going into pig barns for herd health protection, we jumped at the opportunity to support the PSC to allow the public to see our industry from the inside. The P.I.G. showcases what we feel is a great industry.”

Alternatives to Gestation Stalls: Experiences at the Prairie Swine Centre

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Sow housing is one of the most controversial topics of animal well-being. As such, animal production must accommodate the five freedoms: 1) Freedom of movement; 2) Freedom from aggression; 3) Control over individual feed intake; 4) Environmental enrichment (manipulative substances such as straw bedding); and 5) Static space. There are four group housing alternatives to stalls that can better meet these requirements:

Floor feeding with proper management provides plenty of freedom of movement and static space. The problem with floor feeding is the availability of food for the dominant sows in the group. This leads to aggression within the group, which can have drastic effects pre-implantation.

Short feeding stalls (or trickle feeders) can be utilized. These are partial stalls where sows can eat while having their head and shoulders protected. The feed is trickled in at such a rate that sows do not overeat and that it is not beneficial for them to move over to their neighbors stall. Animals must be sorted by eating rate.

Sows can also be moved into individual feeder stalls and fed individually. This is great for monitoring how much each sow eats, but is labor intensive.

Electronic sow feeders are the best for monitoring feed intake. Sows are tagged and enter a feeder system where it disperses the correct amount of feed corresponding to that tag.

Aside from these four strategies, there is ongoing research that looks at changes that can be made to conventional gestation stalls that may provide better freedom of movement. Problems with the electronic sow feeder at the Prairie Swine Center include lameness and gilt training.

Effect of length: diameter ratio in polyethylene biodigesters on gas production and effluent composition

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Effect Of Diet On The Behaviour And Welfare Of Pigs

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Professor Peter H. Brooks looks at diet in relation to the gestating sows behaviour and diet salt content in relation to tail biting. It has been determined that feeding sows on high density, low fibre diets has a major effect on behavior and welfare and that providing sows with more bulky diets can have very positive effects on their well-being.

Today, bar biting in farrowing crates is attributed to hunger rather than the stress from inactivity. Researchers found that confined gilts who’s feed was increased from 1.25 to 4.00 kg/day showed almost no signs of these stresses. These gilts were motivated to a very high degree to work for their food. This was determined by making the gilts work for amount of food, and then increase the amount of work required to obtain the same reward. Gilts eventually spent more energy to get the food than the food provided them in return. When it comes to sow housing, sows housed individually and fed high-density diets meet their nutrient requirements but suffer welfare issues due to their inability to satisfy gut fill. Nutritionists now have to formulate diets to not only supply the sow with nutrient requirements but also to satisfy gut fill, which will satisfy their feeding motivation. Feeding sows with a high fibre diet will result in less stress and less fighting at feeding time while group housed. Feeding sows ad libitum with high fibre (unmolassed sugar beet pulp is suggested) will not compromise productivity. Tail biting is a serious occurrence as it can become infected, form abscesses in the spine, and lead to condemnation of the carcass. Simple practices such as adding straw to pens is shown to reduce tail biting, but there may be nutritional factors present as well. Salt is suspected and it is found that spreading salt on the floor of pens and feeding diets with higher than usual salt content reduces incidence. More salt results in more water consumption and urination, which helps maintain mineral balance. This could contribute to the reduction in tail biting.

Responses of horses to novel visual, olfactory and auditory stimuli.

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An experiment was conducted examining heart rate and behavioural responses of previously unhandled horses to novel visual, auditory and olfactory stimuli. The horses were taught to expect a food reward from a container in a test arena, in addition to either a two minute visual test (using a traffic cone), a two minute auditory test (using white noise), or a two minute olfactory test (conducted by applying eucalyptus oil to the inside of the food container). Less time was spent eating during each test, when compared to the eating time of control horses. Locomotion activities were unaffected by the tests, but presentation of the traffic cone and white noise elicited increased heart rates in test horses compared to control horses. Addition of eucalyptus to the food container did not elicit a heart rate response, but test horses did have an increased number of eating bouts and became more watchful towards their surroundings. Horses used for the visual and auditory tests spent more time alert towards the stimulus rather than towards their surroundings, and horses used in the auditory test took more steps backwards in response to the test. There was a correlation in the heart rate responses between tests, which reflected a non-differentiated activation of the sympathetic nervous system. Behavioural responses were linked to the type of stimulus.

Behavioural and physiological measures of welfare of pregnant mares fitted with a novel urine collection device

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In Australia an alternative procedure for collecting pregnant mare urine (PMU) has been developed. The Australian systems allows the mares to be loose housed in stables or outdoors, where as the current system in Canada and North Dakota requires that the mares be tethered in stalls. The welfare risks associated with this alternate procedure were examined in this study. Twenty-four pregnant mares ranging from three to five months of gestation were used in this study. Twelve of the mares were fitted with the PMU collection device housed in a group on a large paddock during the day. Twelve control mares were housed on a separate paddock. In the evening, the mares were kept in groups of four in six small enclosures. The mares on the experimental treatment continued to where the PMU collection device throughout the evening. There was very little or no difference in the behaviour of the control mares and those fitted with a PMU collection device. The day the mares were fitted with the device, they were observed to frequently lift their leg in the direction of the collection device, however this behaviour subsided the following day. The behaviour patterns of the mares on the two treatments remained similar throughout gestation, except in for the lying behaviour. Mares fitted with a PMU collection device spent significantly less time lying during the evening, as fewer mares were observed to lie down. It remains to be determined how the changes in the lying behaviour affect the welfare of the mares. As the lying behaviour of the mares remained the same after the PMU collection device was removed. The heart rate and cortisol concentrations taken the first two days after the PMU collection device was attached do not indicate that the mares underwent an acute stress response to the attachment of the device. Six to seven weeks after the device was attached, the cortisol concentrations were not indicative of stress. The adrenal cortex did not demonstrate an increased sensitivity of an ACTH challenge six weeks after the mares were fitted with the PMU collection device. The data establishes that mares that wear a PMU collection device 5 days per week for seven weeks, do not undergo an impairment in their welfare.

Influence of individual predisposition, maternal experience and lactation environment on the responses of pigs to weaning at two different ages.

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The effects of predisposition to perform harmful social behaviour, maternal rearing environment, and lactation environment on the responses of pigs to weaning at 3 or 5 weeks of age was assessed during this study. Dams for the study were selected at 7 weeks of age, and were either predisposed or non-predisposed gilts. They were selected based on scores obtained during a ‘tail chew’ test and from performance of other harmful social behaviour towards penmates. Gilts were mated with boars of similar predisposition. Half of the gilts from each predisposition had been raised until farrowing in barren environments, while the other half were raised in enriched environments. Throughout lactation, the gilts and their litters were housed in an environment similar to what the gilt had previously experienced, or in the opposite environment. Litters were early-weaned at 3 weeks of age, or weaned at 5 weeks of age. They were then regrouped and housed in barren slatted pens. Piglets from non-predisposed dams experienced reduced growth during the post-weaning period, and increased belly-nosing behaviour in response to early weaning. Conclusions stated that these effects were not mitigated by maternal experience or lactation environment factors, and so the type of selection used was deemed not commercially viable. Offspring experienced reduced welfare when their dams were raised in barren environments. Evidence of this existed in increased adrenocortical reactivity during the lactation period and in increased belly nosing behaviour seen in response to early weaning. When housed in enriched lactation environments, the effects of barren maternal rearing environment on belly nosing behaviour of offspring was eliminated. Improved growth rates were also found in the post-weaning period when the pigs were raised in enriched lactation environments. It was suggested that the improved growth was due to an improved ability to cope with the weaning process. On the whole, results showed that early environmental factors and genetics both influence the responses of pigs to weaning. Furthermore, the adverse effects of barren maternal rearing environments may be overcome by housing pigs in enriched lactation environments.

Impact of raising swine on bedded floors on the prevalence of Salmonella

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For the swine industry, the control of Salmonella spp. bacteria has become a key element for market development and ensuring food safety of swine products to the consumer. The first objective of this project was to determine if the prevalence of Salmonella was higher in pigs raised on bedding – made of wood chips/sawdust – than in pigs raised on conventional partially slatted concrete floors. It also wanted to define the winning conditions of pig husbandry on bedding. The serological results show that the proportion of herds having a positive Salmonella test was 68% for the herds raised on bedding, versus 55% for the herds raised on partially slatted concrete floors. Moreover, Salmonella in the bedding of 27% of the herds raised on bedding, and in the feces of 24% of the herds raised on partially slatted floors has been observed. Nevertheless, the statistical analysis revealed that these differences were not significant. Generally speaking, many factors differ between those two types of husbandry methods without having a significant impact on the prevalence of Salmonella bacteria.

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

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A SECTORAL MODEL FOR ANALYZING ALTERNATIVE TECHNOLOGIES IN PIG FARMING

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