Rice for piglets

Rice has long been recognised for its gastrointestinal soothing properties. Diarrhoeas in children are still being addressed with just boiled rice in many parts of the world. But, so far we have had only speculations of how rice improves health and which components of it are responsible for such effects.
17 Jun 2008 - 8 comment(s) - Read more »

Between a rock and a hard place - difficult one for the EFSA

Presumably, it is the responsibility of the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) to reduce the incidence of Campylobacter and Salmonella food poisoning in man across Europe. Just when it approves of the use of certain antimicrobial substances (sounds more like disinfectants to me) for treating poultry carcasses, which tend to carry these infectious agents, a storm has arisen that it will let in US poultry meat. Who would be a politician?
09 Jun 2008 - 0 comment(s) - Read more »

Curtains - quartiling the building

Motorised curtains are an increasingly popular way of naturally-ventilating piggeries in hot climates - those that are not exposed to strong winds in winter.
03 Jun 2008 - 0 comment(s) - Read more »

Lactating sows and heat stress

I believe it is now the right time to discuss ways to increase nutrient intake in lactating sows under heat stress. With summer approaching quickly, and a hot summer is predicted to be, changes and adjustments should start now to at least alleviate the negative effects of heat stress on feed intake.
26 May 2008 - 8 comment(s) - Read more »

Responsibility sharing / cost sharing - the future of animal health in Europe?

There are active consultations going on in the UK on responsibility sharing, between the livestock industry and government - and the inevitable cost sharing. It is part of an EU Animal Health Strategy initiative but what is happening in other European countries?
20 May 2008 - 0 comment(s) - Read more »

The vitamin C question

This is a quite old question, which has yet to receive a definitive answer! Despite the fact that pigs, like most animals (excluding humans, primates, and guinea pigs), can readily synthesise enough vitamin C to cover their requirements, many manufactured diets and premixes contain large concentrations of this vitamin. Let's explore this issue a bit further…
06 May 2008 - 1 comment(s) - Read more »

Health and productivity - 'Disease control is king'

'Disease control is king' and 'Pigs are precious' were two of the remarks made by John Dean, professor at Minnesota State University at a recent conference in Rovereto, N. Italy. Analysis of the major components of production profitability variation were the CDL group (culls, deads and lightweights) which accounted for 55%, followed by feed conversion efficiency (FCE) at 28% and finally average daily (ADG) gain, 17%.
28 Apr 2008 - 3 comment(s) - Read more »

Enough Colostral Energy?

I continue my aim during the present feed price crisis of only writing about actions you can take which do not involve any additional expense at all - apart from more attention to detail. One such is in the area of colostrum.
21 Apr 2008 - 7 comment(s) - Read more »

Making Weaners Eat

Not an easy task, sometimes even impossible. Pigs weaned without substantial pre-weaning feeding experience are almost invariably suffering from depressed feed intake post-weaning. And, this is a problem. The less weaned pigs eat the first week post-weaning, the less efficient they are throughout the growing finishing period. Plus, or rather minus (!), their health is in great danger during this transition period when stomachs remain empty. So, what can be done? Here's a short list that may be of some help. Not all recommendations work simultaneously in all farms, but at least one of them should be working in most cases.
14 Apr 2008 - 7 comment(s) - Read more »

Controlling high levels of PRDC mortality with PCV2 vaccines

On a recent visit to Korea, where the average number of pigs finished/sow/year is about 13 and the mortality is caused primarily by the porcine respiratory disease complex (PRDC), I was asked if the new PCV2 vaccines would solve the problem?
07 Apr 2008 - 6 comment(s) - Read more »