Using ‘translactational analgesia’ to reduce piglet pain at castration

Posted in: Pork Insight Articles, Production by admin on September 1, 2012 | No Comments

Public concern regarding painful livestock procedures such as castration is increasing. Piglet
castration has been criticized, largely because pain medication is not commonly used. The cost and labour required to administer analgesics to individual piglets are the main deterrents to
producers adopting this practice. Having an affordable and practical method of delivering pain
medication would likely increase the acceptance of this procedure and use of pain medication by
producers. Previous studies with cattle have shown that analgesics can be transferred through
milk at lactation. However, there is a lack of research on swine and the degree of passive
transfer of these drugs to offspring. The objective of this study is to determine if the analgesic,
Meloxicam©, can be delivered to the piglets via the sow. The study is being conducted in three
parts, with the first objective being to determine if a) pain medication can be passed via the milk,
and b) the drug concentration found in milk. The second objective is to determine the most effective time period that will provide the maximum transfer of drug to piglets, and the third objective is to determine whether this method is effective at reducing pain responses during or after castration.

The Impact of PRRS on the Cost of Pig Production

Posted in: Air Filtration, Pork Insight Articles by admin on August 30, 2012 | No Comments

One of the most prominent health issues in the pork industry is the porcine reproductive and repository syndrome virus (PRRSv). It causes extended days to market for growing pigs and reproductive problems in the breeding herd,such as increased aborted pregnancies and still born piglets. In a survey done by the National Animal Health Monitoring System it was revealed that 21% of hog operators had some form of the virus infecting their herd. This paper attempts to explain the costs of PRRSv for swine producers. Costs were explained for all different stages of production in a swine operation. The costs of PRRS in the breeding-farrowing phase was found to be $74.16 loss per litter. $45 of this cost was because a lot of pigs died early, while $29.16 was from reduced farrowing rate. The costs of PRRS in the nursey was $6.01 per head, this was mainly due to increased mortality, reduced feed conversion and reduced average daily gain. The costs in the grow finsih stage was found to be worth $7.67 per head on infected farms, because of increased mortality, poor feed conversion and reduced average daily gain. Using this data along with data released by the USDA on national hog production, researchers estimated that PRRS was costing the swine industry $66.7 million per year in the breeding-farrowing phase, $201.34 million per year in nursery pigs and $292.23 million per year in finishing pigs.

Range of HEPA Cleanroom Filters Launched

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This document contains several small articles describing new air filtration products released at the time. The articles are:

• High performance ceramic membranes for demanding applications.
• Portable particle counter.
• Centrifuge for pharmaceutical and fine chemical industries.
• Range of HEPA cleanroom filters launched.
• Horizontal vacuum filter for process filtration.
• An emulsion seoaration system with automatic cleaning.

Filtre Antimicrobien Noveko – Présentation technique et utilisation recommandée dans les bâtiments de ferme

Posted in: Air Filtration, Pork Insight Articles by admin on August 23, 2012 | No Comments

Le système de filtration antimicrobien Noveko est constitué de fibres de polypropylène spécialement traitées. Une solution brevetée d’agents antimicrobiens est intégrée à la fibre lors de sa fabrication. Par ce procédé, les agents antimicrobiens sont très fortement liés à la structure de la fibre et distribués uniformément à l’intérieur de la fibre.

Procédé de filtration
Le filtre Noveko utilise quatre principes d’action afin de bloquer et d’aseptiser les particules contenues dans l’air traversant le filtre.

Tamisage
Le principe de tamisage consiste à retenir les plus gros morceaux. Les particules d’un diamètre supérieur à l’espace entre deux fibres sont bloquées. La particule est arrêtée et reste emprisonnée dans le filtre.

Inertie
Nous parlons d’inertie lorsqu’une particule relativement grosse, ayant une masse plus importante que les autres particules, est
retirée du courant d’air circulant à travers le filtre, en restant collée à fibre, car elle…

Filtration pour une meilleure qualitè de l`air

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Préparer l’avenir de l’agriculture et de l’agroalimentaire québécois

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Au cours des dernières années, la globalisation des marchés a fait ressortir de manière criante le besoin de conserver des standards élevés afin d’assurer le maintien de la santé des animaux de consommation ainsi que celle de la population. L’existence de maladies animales endémiques causant des pertes économiques importantes et la menace de nouvelles maladies en émergence, la biosécurité à la ferme, le respect de l’environnement, les zoonoses et la santé publique, l’antibiorésistance, la salubrité alimentaire et le bien-être animal font maintenant partie de la réalité de l’agroalimentaire québécois. La Faculté de médecine vétérinaire (FMV) de l’Université de Montréal est un joueur clé en agriculture et agroalimentaire puisqu’elle est la seule institution québécoise à offrir un programme de formation en médecine vétérinaire ainsi que des programmes de deuxième et troisième cycle conduisant à la formation de spécialistes et de chercheurs en santé animale. La présence à la Faculté de chaires de recherche du Canada, de chaires de recherche industrielles, d’une dizaine de groupes de recherche, d’un regroupement stratégique du FQRNT en infectiologie porcine et d’un réseau canadien de recherche du CRSNG sur la mammite bovine témoigne du dynamisme et du leadership de l’institution en recherche. La Faculté offre également de nombreux services importants au secteur agricole via son Centre hospitalier universitaire vétérinaire (CHUV) et son Service de diagnostic. Afin de répondre aux grands enjeux identifiés dans ce mémoire et ainsi contribuer à l’avenir de l’agriculture et de l’agroalimentaire québécois, la FMV propose les quatre recommandations suivantes : 1) Soutenir le maintien de l’agrément complet par l’AVMA de la seule faculté de médecine vétérinaire au Québec afin de conserver la réputation de la formation vétérinaire universitaire québécoise et ainsi la réputation internationale du statut sanitaire du cheptel québécois; 2) Développer une approche concertée permettant d’assurer la formation d’un nombre suffisant de vétérinaires généralistes et spécialistes afin de combler et d’anticiper les besoins d’expertise en prévention, diagnostic et traitement des maladies animales, en salubrité alimentaire et en santé publique; 3) Investir de façon substantielle en recherche et dans la formation de chercheurs en santé animale afin que le secteur agroalimentaire québécois puisse innover en bénéficiant des percées technologiques et soit en mesure de répondre promptement et efficacement aux problématiques émergentes; 4) Appuyer le Centre hospitalier universitaire vétérinaire et le Service de diagnostic de la FMV pour qu’ils puissent réaliser leurs missions de service à la collectivité et de formation de spécialistes pour le secteur agroalimentaire.

Evaluation of airborne shedding of modified-live porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus from growing pigs

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The PRRS virus is known to cost the US  pork industry$1.8 million per day. Although it has been eliminated from breeding herds by implementing herd closure-homogenization protocols, the pigs who come from these sows are susceptible to wild type PRRS. These pigs are vaccinated with PRRS modified-live virus (MLV) vaccine since they are put in grow finish facilities with other pigs who put them at risk of wild type PRRSv. This vaccination has been proven to be effective in limiting the spread of wild type PRRSv but there is speculation that the PRRS MLV positive pigs are infecting the negative population of pigs with PRRS MLV when they are mixed. This study attempts to evaluate airborne shedding of PRRS MLV vaccine and to assess the ability of a basic bio-security protocol to prevent PRRS MLV from being transmitted from vaccinated to non-vaccinated growing pigs raised in the same facility. 3367 pigs were put into a wean-finish facility and split into two rooms, one room was injected with PRRS MLV and the other was the control (not infected). The rooms had different air systems and stringent bio-security measures were taken when entering different rooms. Serum samples of test pigs were taken regularly as well as air samples. In the room that was infected with PRRS MLV samples showed high levels of ELISA-positive pigs, high Serum PCR positive pools, and high oral-uid PCR positive samples. PRRSv RNA was detected in air samples at all 3 sample collection distances in at least one of the 29 days sampled. In the control barn, there was no PRRS virus RNA detected in serum or oral-fluid samples in the pigs. Non-vaccinated pigs also remained ELISA-negative through the entire study, this can be attributed to bio-security protocols that were implemented and low levels of air transmission.

Use of controlled ovulation and seminal plasma on sow fertility to insemination of cryopreserved sperm

Posted in: Ontario Pork, Pork Insight Articles by admin on August 22, 2012 | No Comments

When boar semen is frozen and thawed (FT) the fertility rate of the insemination is lower than fresh semen; fewer sperm live at thawing and there is a shorter lifespan of surviving sperm in the female reproductive tract. This project looked at incubating thawed semen in seminal plasma (SP) to see how it effected sperm viability and mortality in virtro. Also how SP effected in vivo sow fertility to double conventional AI, or single intrauterine AI. For the in vitro test, FT sperm were thawed and incubated for 4 hours with either 0%, 10% or 50% SP. Sperm populations were examined for viability and mortality every hour they were incubated for. Incubation in 50% SP increased percentages of live sperm and sperm motility at all time points compared to incubation in either 0% or 10% SP. For the in vivo test 82 sows were used, sows received 3 x 109 live fresh-extended sperm or FT sperm thawed in 80 mL BTS extender or 3 x 109 live FT sperm thawed in 80 mL BTS containing 50% SP (FT-SP). Sows who received fresh semen had the highest pregnancy rate followed by the FT-SP group, the FT group having the lowest rate. Farrowing rates were not different. In the in vivo single intrauterine AI test, 97 sows were inseminated at 36 h after pLH with 3 x 109 live FT sperm with or without 50% SP, or 3 x 109 fresh sperm. Compared to controls, insemination of FT-SP decreased farrowing rate but litter sizes were not different from controls. These results confirm that there is an adverse effect of inseminating FT sperm on sow fertility but using sperm that has been incubated in 50% SP can partially alleviate these negative effects.

Case-Control Study of Porcine Circovirus Type 2 – associated disease outbreaks in Ontario

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This study was a case-control observational study using 25 farms that had a 2 year history of clinical Porcine Circovirus type 2 (PCV2) associated disease (PCVAD) and also 25 matched farms that had no history of the virus. A survey was taken to find the risk factors associated with the disease and samples were taken to test for what type of circovirus was present. All viruses from case or control farms were identified as RFLP 321. Vaccination has proven to be very effective in containing the disease in case farms and it was more difficult to find virus on vaccinated farms. Lesions consistent with PCVAD were found on control farms, suggesting that a vaccine might be appropriate in these herds also. The main result of this work was that the new strain of virus that prevailed 2 years ago, which appears to be a severe disease of grower-finisher pigs, is now in the majority of swine herds in Ontario. There may potentially be other reasons as to why the disease suddenly became a cause of high mortality in grow-finish pigs.

Effect of addition of seminal plasma to thawed semen on sow fertility

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The use of frozen-thawed semen results in much lower fertility rates than the use of fresh semen. Although frozen semen has several benefits, such as bio-security, in that frozen semen can be tested for things like the PRRS virus so the inseminated herd is not infected. It has been suggested that seminal plasma can improve frozen-thawed semen performance. Also new timing techniques at ovulation and delivery of the seaman to the uterus instead of the oviducts, which is traditionally done, can help raise the fertility rates of frozen-thawed semen. These methods have potential to improve the chances of fertilization. Four separate experiments were carried out examining these methods by themselves and in combination. It was found that there was no advantage to adding seminal plasma to the semen, leading researchers to believe that freezing semen causes a degree of injury. Also the timing of insemination and process of insemination did not result in improved fertilization rates. More research must be carried out to be able to achieve full potential from frozen-thawed semen.