Focusing on these animal welfare basics is critical to getting newly weaned piglets off to a strong start
Weaning and the transition to the early nursery stage are the most challenging times for piglets. Minimizing stress during those first few weeks away from mom will improve a piglet’s odds of staying healthy.
A good environment allows pigs to grow to the best of their genetic potential, says Dr. Tom Wetzell, Senior Professional Services Veterinarian with Boehringer Ingelheim. “You need to start with healthy pigs in the nursery, or the chances of them reaching their genetic potential decrease significantly.”
Management factors including longer fill times and having pigs of varying age and disease status in the same barn or site make it more difficult to maintain healthy pigs from farrow to finish. But staying focused on key animal husbandry basics and being proactive in the nursery are good ways to minimize threats to overall animal welfare, says Dr. Carissa Odland, Director of Animal Welfare for sow management company Pipestone System.
“Animal welfare involves more than how animals are treated or handled,” she explains. “It includes their health, environment and the biosecurity measures taken to prevent disease.”
Odland and Wetzell recently highlighted several important management strategies that producers can employ to help keep piglets healthy and growing well:
Vaccinations are another important tool for developing immunities to serious threats, including respiratory and enteric diseases in young pigs, adds Wetzell. “An industry target continues to be producing weaned pigs that are negative to as many significant diseases as possible,” he says. “Work with your veterinarian to develop vaccination schedules and protocols tailored to your operation’s disease pressures and history.”
Your veterinarian is another good source for training employees in disease identification and prevention, as well as biosecurity issues. The National Pork Board also offers a wide variety of training materials and resources, notes Odland.
Another valuable tool is SwineResource.com, a first-of-its-kind comprehensive library of research-driven swine health information. Visit it at www.swineresource.com.
© 2018 Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica, Inc.