Zoonotic Diseases From Pigs

Posted in: Pork Insight Articles, Production by admin on April 1, 2009 | No Comments

Zoonotic diseases are transmissible from vertebrate animals to humans. To be a zoonotic disease the animal carrier may or may not have clinical symptoms, and the disease needs to be naturally transmissible. Modern pork production has different risks than those of less developed areas, and this paper will only look at modern production diseases. The diseases examined will be classified as foodborne or occupational zoonoses. Salmonella is one of the most common foodborne illnesses. Swine show clinical symptoms with only 3 of the strains, so surveillance and quality assurance programs can be used to monitor for other strains throughout the production chain. Y. enterocolitica has 6 biotypes, 5 of which are human pathogens, and 11/60 serotypes which cause clinical symptoms in humans. In Ontario, the majority of confirmed cases were linked to pork, and finishing pigs can often shed the pathogen. Toxoplasma gondii is a worldwide parasite. Cats are the definite host and support the sexual cycle, and the asexual cycle can occur in all warm-blooded animals. Human infection can be asymptomatic or can have a severe impacts up to death. Toxoplasmosis is not a concern in swine, however it can be found on pork products. Campylobacter primary is a foodborne pathogen through poultry, but can come from swine as well. The influenza virus is one of the major occupational zoonoses with swine. H3N2 and H1N1 strains and their reassortments can be found in swine herds, and there remains concern that a highly pathogenic strain could be transmitted from avian to swine to humans. Streptococcus suis is another occupational zoonoses, but only serotype 2 of the possible 35 serotypes can cause illness in humans.

The USDA’s National Animal Health Monitoring System

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The USDA’s National Animal Health Monitoring System (NAHMS) collects data on swine herd production numbers, management, and herd health approximately every 5 years. The NAHMS commodity study consists of 5 phases. The Needs Assessment Phase uses focus groups and surveys to determine which specific issues should be addressed. The Study Design Phase determines which states, the sampling number, and which data collection instruments are to be used. The Study Implementation Phase involves staff training, promotion, and execution of the data collection plan. The Study Analysis Phases generates descriptive and inferential estimates, and possible publications of the inferential estimates. Finally, the Information Dissemination Phase distributes the information gained from the study through full reports, short information sheets, and presentations. The Swine 2006 study collected data on baselines for diseases and disease agents, management, disease modeling, and surveillance systems through two interviews and the collection of blood and/or fecal samples. In 2007 a Swine Small Enterprise study was conducted, and the focus was on pseudorabies and classic swine fever risk from feral swine. Some of the problems NAHMS encounters with voluntary studies include difficulty in finding interviewees due to the use of contractors or confidentiality agreements, avoiding over-surveying participants, and communication between the various agencies, offices, and representatives involved in the study.

Benchmarking and Tools to Maximize Profit

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Benchmarking is useful on various scales, and for both production and financial comparisons. Agri Stats allows for monthly benchmarking for swine producers, and currently has finisher and sow barns participating. Benchmarking requires continuous input of data, but producers can gain perspective on how their facility compares and where it can improve. Agri Stats can breakdown financial performance, so producers can see which area is behind. More general production numbers, such as pigs/sow mated/year, are more useful for comparison than highly detailed production numbers, as production numbers do not necessarily equate profit.

Pork Production Versus Consumer Demands

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Canada’s pork industry relies heavily on exporting, so the rise of the Canadian dollar, rise of feed costs, increased global production, and lack of competiveness by processors has had a large impact on the industry. Niche markets offer an opportunity to increase consumer demand. These markets can include pork that is local, free range, antibiotic free, natural, naturally raised, organic, or breed specific. DuBreton’s genetic division, Genetiporc, is a leader in herd health, and integrates research and development and company benefits into the vertical chain. DuBreton also utilizes programs to produce organic or natural pork to cater to niche markets.

Managing Highly Prolific Sows

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Hyperprolific sows require different management, and come with different benefits and consequences than less prolific sows. Country effects are management or herd features that occur due to a country’s cultural impact on production. France and Denmark are two countries with hyperprolific sows, and a country effect in both is the use of prostaglandins to induce farrowing. In France, prostaglandins are widely used, but in Denmark they are banned. Hyperprolific herds may have litter sizes that exceed functional teats on the sows, so sow selection has been used to increase the percent of sows with 16 teats. Management tactics have to be changed with hyperprolific sows to manage increased preweaning mortality and overcrowding issues. As well, as litter size increases the number of piglets with low birth weight (<1kg) will increase. However, mortality may not be entirely dependent on birth weight, but may involve maturity and vitality also. Feeding management of hyperprolific sows is another aspect for producers to consider. Overfeeding through gestation appears to have no consistent effect, and overfeeding during the last week before farrowing seems to show a positive effect. Batch farrowing is a management strategy that can be used, and is used in France. Altrenogest can be used to synchronize ovulation in a batch, and prostaglandins can be used to synchronize farrowing in batches. One consequence of hyperprolific sows is the increased use of cross-fostering, which can be overused and lead to wide variation in piglets origins in each litter. Hyperprolificy can increase profits, but at this point it is probably wise to focus on other herd aspects including reducing preweaning mortality.

Effects of multiple concurrent stressors on rectal temperature, blood acid-base status, and longissimus muscle glycolytic potential in market-weight pigs

Posted in: Production by admin on January 1, 2009 | No Comments

Sixty-four market-weight barrows and gilts were used in a split-plot design with a 2 × 2 × 2 factorial arrangement
of treatments: 1) handling intensity (gentle vs. aggressive), 2) transport floor space (0.39 vs. 0.49 m2/pig), and 3) distance moved during handling (25 vs. 125 m) to determine the effects of multiple concurrent stressors on metabolic responses. It was concluded that the stressors evaluated had additive effects on several indicators of metabolic stress responses in finishing pigs.

For more information the full article can be found at http://jas.fass.org/

The effects of dietary chromium(III) picolinate on growth performance, blood measurements, and respiratory rate in pigs kept in high and low ambient temperature

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Three experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of thermal stress and dietary Cr on growth performance and physiological variables in weanling pigs. The results indicate that growth performance is affected by thermal stress and plasma cortisol is decreased by heat stress, but these effects are not moderated by dieatry Cr.

For more information the full article can be found at http://jas.fass.org/

The addition of ground wheat straw as a fiber source in the gestation diet of sows and the effect on sow and litter performance for three successive parities

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This study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of adding 13.35% ground wheat straw to a corn-soybean meal gestation diet for 3 successive gestation-lactation cycles compared with sows fed a control diet without straw. In conclusion, when the daily intake of the basal gestation diet was equalized for both treatments, the addition of 13.35% ground wheat straw to the gestation diet improved sow and litter performance, with increases in litter size and
total litter weight at birth and weaning compared with control sows and litters.

For more information the full article can be found at http://jas.fass.org/

Effects of continual fluctuation in feed intake on growth performance response and carcass fat-to-lean ratio in grower-finisher pigs

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An experiment was conducted to examine the effect of continual fluctuations in feed intake on grower-finisher pig growth performance and carcass fat-to-lean ratio (F:L). The results indicated that continual fluctuation in feed intake either every other day or every 3 d had minimal effects on growth and carcass F:L compared with pigs fed the same restricted amount throughout the experiment.

For more information the full article can be found at http://jas.fass.org/

An evaluation of four candidate genes for use in selection programmes aimed at increased intramuscular fat in Duroc swine

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A sufficient level of intramuscular fat (IMF) is needed to enhance consumer acceptance of pork products, and is currently receiving greater attention within swine genetic improvement programmes. Biological candidate genes implicated to play a role in adipogenesis were investigated within two different lines of purebred Duroc pigs.

For more information the full article can be found at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1439-0388/issues