Infectious atrophic rhinitis of pigs

Vitaliy Piotrovych, Ph.D of veterinary science, veterinary adviser

Lately a great deal of attention is paid to start up triggers of the complex of respiratory diseases; which are the Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS)/ causative agents of porcine circovirus and mycoplasmosis. Such diseases are currently important, they are the subject for discussion at seminars, conferences, congress and in scientific and scientific-practical publications. But there are numerous infectious diseases of pigs a of bacterial etiology which are also very important as they cause the decrease of pig production profitability. Infectious atrophic rhinitis of pigs is one of them.

It is out-of-date to castrate boars

Viktor Evert, Business Manager of «Pfizer veterynarni preparaty».

Sergiy Nedogybchenko, manager of «Improvak» project in Ukraine.

The problem of smooth pig production has been increasing worldwide rapidly for consumers prefer to eat «happy» pork and they protest against animal cruelty. It calls forth not only respect for such procedures as cutting tails and blunting pig canines but also an increased attention of animal welfare organizations (in EU in particular) to the physical gelding of boars which is painful and dangerous procedure. In December in 2011 the European Commission adopted European Declaration on alternatives to surgical castration of pigs according to which EU pig producers should give up the traditional procedure completely by 2018.

Management of the farm’s biosecurity

Adapted from the presentation of Alex Ramirez, PHD veterinary science, master of public health care of Iowa State University

Economic losses from porcine diseases account 20% of products costs in developed countries and 40% in developing countries. That is why biosecurity on pig farms is one of the most serious challenges of the modern pig production. Alex Ramirez is sure that the list of biosecurity measures differs from enterprise to enterprise as each farm has its own peculiarities. But there are common measures of prevention and eradication of diseases.

Be careful – lameness!

According to one of the latest researches of United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) more than 15% of all culled sows are culled because of lameness every year. In this research lameness was stated the second main reason for culling after reproduction dysfunction.

Circovirus Infections

Post weaning multisystem wasting syndrome (PMWS) was first diagnosed in Canada in 1991. It is caused Circovirus of Type 2 (PCV-2). France was the first European country that faced the problems associated with the infection. Nowadays scientists have showed that PCV causes significant economic losses worldwide. Let’s try and understand what Circovirus is, what the risks to pigs are and how we can protect our livestock from the infection.

Iron therapy for piglets

New born piglet’s organism lacks iron for normal growth and living. Sow’s milk supply needs in iron by 10–12%:the standard is 7-8mg of hemoglobin per 100 ml of blood, while piglets have 1mg per 100 ml. That is why the most important task for pig producers to provide piglets with necessary amount of iron in their first days of life. Otherwise they will use their reserves during the first 10 days and will suffer anemia. The symptoms of anemia are skin pallor and mucosae, gastrointestinal distress. Very often the gastrointestinal distress is worsened by pneumonia which leads to piglets death.