Enteric diseases are some of the most significant contributors to baby pig morbidity and mortality in the farrowing house. Piglet immunity must be maximized in order to provide them with the opportunity to thrive in the farrowing house. The production of consistent, high quality pigs is a goal all sow operations are working to achieve. By maximizing piglet immunity and using proper husbandry practices, scouring problems can be minimized. Escherichia coli, clostridial diseases, rotavirus, and coccidiosis continue to be the major pathogens of concern in the pre-weaning period. Some things have changed over time while others continue to be the same. It is the goal of this paper to briefly review key concepts on maximizing piglet immunity as well as address some of the current trends in enteric pathogens in the farrowing house.

INTRODUCTION

All sow farms have a common goal: produce a high quality piglet. This sounds like an easy task. There are a lot of great farms out there producing good quality pigs consistently. There are also many operations that continue to struggle year after year. Even in those operations where performance is great, there is always room for improvement. The goal of improvement is not always just to produce a high quality pig, but also to do that in the most consistent, efficient, and profitable way. Consistency is critical as it helps those who end up feeding these piglets out to market (slaughter or breeding stock sales). Efficiency is critical as farm labor availability is becoming more and more of an issue worldwide. Finally, profitability is of the utmost importance as ultimately it is the driving force for the existence of any industry.

Enteric diseases are some of the most significant contributors to baby pig morbidity and mortality in the farrowing house. The latest U.S. National Animal Health Monitoring System (NAHMS) Swine Report data from 2006 indicated that scours were identified as the third leading producer-identified cause of pre-weaning death accounting for 13.2% of deaths. Crushing by sow (42.0%) and starvation (29.7%) were the other two main causes reported. The top three causes of pre-weaning mortality are the exact same ones identified by Crooks et al. (1993) from the 1990 NAHMS National Swine Survey. It is the goal of this paper to briefly review key concepts on maximizing piglet immunity as well as address some of the current trends in enteric pathogens in the farrowing house. The goal is to provide relevant and practical tips that will help sow farms achieve a consistent goal of producing high quality pigs efficiently and profitably.

MAXIMIZING PIGLET IMMUNITY

Weaning weight is considered one of the most important factors impacting post-weaning and lifetime growth performance (Lawlor et al., 2002). Piglet enteric problems in the farrowing house are a major contributor to poor performance. Before discussing farrowing house enteric pathogens and their consequences, it is important to start at the beginning. To maximize piglet survival, pigs must obtain sufficient, good quality colostrum in a timely manner.

Colostrum

Pigs are not able to obtain antibodies from their mothers while in utero due to the placental characteristics. This necessitates that piglets obtain all their passive antibodies through colostrum. It is estimated that piglets need about 240 - 255 ml (1.5 kgX 160-170 ml/kg) of colostrum to survive (Le Dividich et al., 2005). These needs are not only for the antibodies (IgG) needed but also for the glucose and fat (both are energy sources) found in colostrum. A recent study by Foisnet et al. (2010) estimated the average sow produced 3.22 ±0.34 kgof colostrum (range 0.85-4.80 kg). These are similar ranges found by Devillers et al. (2005) which estimated colostrum production to average3.6 kgwith a range of 1.9-5.3 kg. Low colostrum production is not related to litter size or birth weight or due to the inability of newborn piglets to nurse (Foisnet et al., 2010).

Many publications emphasize the importance of allowing piglets to obtain colostrum within the first 24-36 hours after birth before gut closure occurs. It is true that gut closure occurs, but what is more important is to emphasize that this closure is exponential and therefore from a producer standpoint, making sure that piglets get colostrum within the first 6 hours of life is critical. This can be seen in Figure 1 (adapted from Miller et al., 1962). These changes in gut absorption are due to physiologic changes occurring in the intestine related to protein digestion as well as physical changes in the intestine cells (tightening of junctions between cells). In a study by Foisnet et al. (2010) it was found that the average time between birth and the first suckle (colostrum) was 29 ± 2 min.

Colostrum yield and mean piglet birth weight are important determinants of newborn viability. Birth order also plays an important role in determining which piglets get access to the most colostrum as reported in the review article by Farmer and Quesnel (2009). This same article emphasizes that research supports the theory that it is the sow which limits the quantity of colostrum pigs can consume in a day. The overall mortality rate of piglets within the first two days of life is significantly different between litters nursing off low-colostrum producing sows than in litters with high-producing sows (21 ± 10 vs. 4 ± 3%. P=0.04) (Foisnet et al., 2010).

Colostrum also plays an important role in eliciting dramatic changes in intestinal growth, structure and function of newborn pigs during the first 6 hours of suckling. This is highly related to the amount of colostrum ingested and can result in approximately 100-fold increase in absorptive area in the intestines (reviewed by Farmer et al., 2006). It should be the goal of all farrowing house personnel to maximize piglet immunity and intestinal function by maximizing the opportunity for piglets to have access to good amounts of high quality colostrum as soon as possible after birth. This requires not only that the mothers produce the colostrum, but that the right husbandry skills are used to enable this process

1. What are three most common practices to reduce pathogen exposure to the newborn piglets?
2. How does split-suckling and cross-fostering influence piglets’ development?
3. Why does chilling predispose piglets to enteric diseases?
4. What are the top three enteric pathogens found in all aged pigs?
5. What are the two most common viral pathogens contributing to enteric problems in pre-weaned piglets?
6. What are the peculiarities of cocsidiosis control?

You can read more in the magazine publication «Profitable Pig Production», №6 (12), December 2012.