With costs rising rapidly due to increases in feed
prices, is it a good time to focus on improving health and considering
eradication of such production depressing diseases as enzootic pneumonia
?
At a recent Pig Veterinary Society meeting in the UK,
the subject of eradication was aired in a number of presentations. Enzootic
pneumonia eradication programmes seem to be one of the most successful and
relatively easy to carry out. The disease itself is easy to monitor at the
slaughter house and make an assessment of the severity of the problem. A cost of
disease can be applied depending on the average herd lesion score determined
(see Graph 1
).
| Graph 1. Cost of enzootic pneumonia per pig fattened according to herd average lung lesion score (%) |
 |
The simplest method is to use partial depopulation of pigs below 9 months of
age, so that you are treating pigs which have recovered from the disease and are
fully immune. This means that lung lesions have disappeared, as these can act as
reservoirs for Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae, the cause of the disease, and
make it difficult for the antibiotics to penetrate and eliminate the organisms.
In herds that have recently broken down, it is best to wait several months for
immunity to build up and this process can be speeded up by the use of mycoplasma
vaccines before the eradication programme starts.
At the same time other diseases can be eliminated if the programme is
properly planned and this can influence your choice of which antimicrobial or
combination to use.
Tiamulin is tried and tested in several countries,
especially in Scandinavia, against enzootic pneumonia and can also be used to
eliminate
swine dysentery
(Brachyspira hyodysenteriae) very successfully. It is less sure against
B. pilosicoli and ileitis (Lawsonia intracellularis) but this
might be due to the method and high risk of re-contamination. Tilmicosin in feed
has also been used successfully for enzootic pneumonia and occasionally has been
successful against Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae but it is much more
difficult to eradicate than mycoplasma. It has also shown activity against
ileitis. There were new reports on the use of tulathromycin in a long acting
injectable form for eradication of M. hyopneumoniae and this may also
prove a useful approach.
With the vista of low pig prices and high feed costs coming, it might be
timely to take the opportunity to improve the health status of the herd in time
for the anticipated recovery later next year.
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