A major element in the success of every farm lies in searching out the devils that lurk in the details. Helping hog producers and their staff nail those devils down has been the goal of the Red Deer Swine Technology Workshop, which hosted a strong crowd for its 19th annual seminar in mid-October.

Industry speakers addressing the 2017 workshop offered their perspective on the details involved in operating a safe, healthy, efficient and productive barn from standpoints including stockmanship, nursery care, disease prevention, team building, breeding and upcoming changes in drug regulations.

 

ALBERTA PED UPDATE

Sometimes the smallest things can have the greatest impact, veterinary epidemiologist Julia Keenliside said in her discussion of the impact within Alberta of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PED).

“I want you to sit and reflect: It’s a virus. It’s not even classified as a living thing. It’s a protein . . . that can’t survive outside a cell, yet this little scrap of protein is enough to change an entire industry,” said Keenliside.

Assumptions about how disease is transmitted were thrown asunder and the learning curve turned straight up as industry leaders sought to check the spread of a virus believed to have been shipped from China to the United States in contaminated containers.

In the havoc that followed the initial outbreak in the spring of 2013, investigations of the PED virus determined that it can be spread at least 10 different ways, she said.

The virus arrived in Ontario and Manitoba eight months later and this year, broke out in 70 Manitoba barns over a span of six months.

“This year, it simply got into some big farms and snowballed from there,” said Keenliside.

Across Canada, the outbreak is clearly slowing down – but the need for continued vigilance and strict controls is as urgent as ever, she said. “PED has really changed the way Ontario deals with disease and managing disease.

PED has forced a new level of co-operation and collaboration and information flow and transparency.”

A new organization, Swine Health Ontario, was formed during the last two years with the goal of eliminating PED from their province.

SHO has identified transport as the main factor in the spread of the disease and has thus focused its efforts on slaughter plants and assembly yards.

“People recognized that the trucks going to slaughter and then coming back to the farm were one way of bringing the disease back,” said Keenliside. Trucks carrying culls and deadstock are also potential carriers. The virus can enter a barn with infected feed, on the clothes and shoes of workers and barn visitors, and on the feathers and fur of passing wildlife. It can survive on snow and there is evidence that it can travel short distances on air currents as well, she said.

All provinces have now listed PED as a reportable disease, with staff for Alberta’s Chief Veterinarian taking calls 24 hours a day on a toll-free alert line, 1-800-524-0051. The province encourages the industry to maintain disease prevention protocols and continues to test for the virus. Traceability gives Keenliside and her team the information they need to test additional sites if a suspect is identified

“Over the past three years I’ve had a number of suspect positive cases come in and we’ve done trace-outs. We’ve had a positive truck sample from Saskatchewan, we had a positive truck sample from Alberta, we’ve had farms that veterinarians have said, ‘You know there’s some loose pigs here – I’m worried,’ so we tested for them right away. They’ve all been negative so far.”

Most recently, the Alberta team was notified of Alberta pigs having contact with a loading dock in Manitoba that had tested positive. The Alberta farms were tested to ensure that the virus hadn’t found its way back with the pigs.

“This is ongoing, because we want to catch it early to be able to stop it and keep it from spreading,” said Keenliside.

REGULATORY SCREWS TIGHTENING ON USE OF ANTI-MICROBIALS

While Alberta’s team of epidemiologists continues to work on keeping contagions out, new policies are going to change the way producers buy and use anti-microbials to treat their pigs, said veterinarian Egan Brockhoff in his presentation.

Measures to address the emergence and spread of antimicrobial-resistant infections are being phased in over the next two years, with the co-operation and support of Canada’s livestock producers and veterinarians, said Brockhoff.

Those steps, which started in November, will affect the manufacture, sale and administration of treatments with the objectives of keeping pork products clear of drug residues, reducing the development of antimicrobial resistance and demonstrating the commitment of Canada’s pork producers to antimicrobial stewardship and the sustainable use of veterinary medications.

No antibiotics will be eliminated, but there will be a concerted effort to ensure that they are administered correctly and appropriately, said Brockhoff.

The first step in the program, effective Nov. 13, affects the importation of veterinary drugs not approved in Canada, termed Own Use Importation (OUI). While some drugs are now prohibited from entering Canada, revised regulations have established a B List of products which must fit eight specific criteria:

* Not a prescription drug for veterinary use in Canada;

* In final dosage form and within its commercial packaging;

* Not a medicated premix;

* Not a medically important antimicrobial;

* Approved by a recognized foreign regulator;

* Has a maximum residue limit (MRL) established in Canada for the active ingredient and species;

* Has similar directions for use to a product approved in Canada with a drug identification number;

* Has no unresolved safety issues.

Further steps coming during the next two years will affect active pharmaceutical ingredients, mandatory reporting of antimicrobial sales volumes, removal of growth promotion claims, heightened veterinary oversight of medically-important antimicrobials and the development of Canada Pork Council’s drugs and vaccine use policy.

A drug use policy included in the Canada Quality Assurance binder will be updated to reflect new requirements to make sure producers don’t end up in hot water with Health Canada as new policies and regulations come into effect, said Brockhoff.

Under special circumstances, Canadian veterinarians can apply to the federal government for an emergency drug release, which offers them an opportunity to bring in a small supply of a product they may need to deal with a special situation, he said.

“CQA is all about food safety – it’s one of our core promises about food safety to our consumers. We want to ensure proper use of veterinary products to prevent drug residues in pork,” he said.

LESSONS FROM THE BARN

Of course, some of the lessons of most use to producers are the tips passed on by fellow producers. The 2017 workshop brought four people from the front end of the business to talk about various things they had tried in their barns and the results they experienced. Common among them was the demand for good stockmanship, including knowing and understanding the animals, paying attention to small details so they didn’t turn into big problems.

“From time to time, we need somebody to point out the obvious and maybe, from time to time, the not-so-obvious, said Manitoba producer James Hofer. Long-time barn manager for the Starlite Colony, he spoke about their decision to use post-cervical artificial insemination and the results it has produced for them.

It was expected that PCAI would offer several advantages, including the access to high-value boars and the ability to breed more sows with less sperm. Precise timing and small doses means each sow is bred only once, offering tremendous savings in time and labour – presuming the timing and methodology were correct.

“A single mating at the correct time is better than multiple mating at the wrong time,” said Hofer.

He described PCAI as a fine art which the breeder needs to understand fully to be successful, putting up a slide showing a bell curve describing the changes that occur through a sow’s heat cycle.

“We know that the sow ovulates three quarters through the cycle and you have to have the semen in at least eight hours before she ovulates. Colour changes in the vulva are used to determine when the sow is starting to cycle and how long it will be before she comes into standing heat.

“If there’s anything we need to do right, it’s heat checking,” said Hofer. Anyone can learn to insert the rod and attach the tube, but understanding heat checking is far more elusive, he said.

“A good stock person knows his pigs, knows the signs and will be successful when it comes to doing heat checking.”

Hygiene is critical throughout the process, much more than in conventional AI, said Hofer. “

You are taking the inner cannula past the cervix. In regular AI and natural servicing, the boar deposits the semen in the cervix. You’re going beyond that point.”

MINDING THE NURSERY

Attention to detail is equally important in the nursery, said Colette Schick, a production manager for Olymel and a member of its animal welfare committee.

Schick wrapped her discussion around what she considers the four basic needs of piglets from the moment they’re born: Air, water, food and care.

“It might seem pretty basic to some of you, and it is. But I think there are things that we sometimes forget. We get caught up in a million jobs a day and there’s a lot of distraction, so it’s just bringing it back to the basics.”

With so many small details involved in upholding those four essentials, Schick said it helps to set up a daily checklist so barn staff can be sure they have done everything possible to maintain a healthy environment for the pigs and ensure that they are getting the care they need.

Is there a cold draught? Does ventilation need to be increased?

Staff should monitor conditions in the barn and watch the way the piglets are behaving to spot signs of distress, such as changes in lying pattern which could indicate a cold draught. Barn staff should check waterers first if there are signs that pigs have gone off their feed and always call in a second set of eyes if they think something is not right.

Schick noted that some barn staff will isolate pigs that are feeling ill. Pigs do not thrive when left on their own, so providing a sick pig with some companionship will help it get better, she said.

Looking after pigs also means looking after the people charged with their care, said Schick.

“No matter what system you have, you may have policies and procedures for your own system, and I think it’s important to communicate that with staff. Have a standard that you live by or expect from people. Communication is always important. Teach and provide tools, audit and follow up. Remove obstacles to success,” she said.

“We get so caught up and busy. Slow down a little bit and take time to care.”

SOW HOUSING

Tom Kennelly from Perkins Farms in Wainwright and Martin Waldner from Hartland Colony near Gadsby spoke about their experiences with converting from sow crates to loose housing.

Perkins Farms converted an 850-sow herd that it has since expanded to 1,250. The conversion involved a drop feed system and small pens of 10 to 16 animals with 25 square feet per sow. Shoulder stalls were included with the feeders to protect the sows while they were eating. Feed is dropped twice a day and sows have learned to anticipate the drop and wait for their meal. Sows are sorted by parity and kept in static groups, with no mixing after Day 1 in the pen.

Gestation stalls had offered some advantages, including the ability to feed them individually and protect less dominant sows from the bullies, said Kennelly. Sows were easily handled during heat detection and pregnancy checking, he said.

However, the sows were restless, there was more trouble with shoulder abrasions and sore feet and it was difficult to assess them for fitness.

In group housing, sows could be watched daily as they walked around and it was easier to move them from room to room when necessary. Stockmen also found that the sows were lasting longer and were generally more fit than they had been when held in gestation stalls.

At Perkins Farms, sows that had been kept in crates took awhile to adjust to loose housing, but after the adjustment period the staff found that they stay in the herd much longer. “We had to relearn everything. All of the staff had to be retrained to adapt to the new system,” said Kennelly.

“You cannot change over to group housing if you don’t retrain your stock people. Otherwise, you’re mortality will go up by five or six per cent,” he said.

Staff was advised that the conversion was necessary because stalls were banned in Europe, packers including Smithfield and Maple Leaf were looking for pigs from loose-housing systems and some were offering bonuses for farmers that had made the switch, said Kennelly.

“I haven’t seen much bonus as of now from the packers,” he said. “I think some of the packers need to have more input and give us more money when we go to group housing to compensate for all the efforts.”

Also providing incentive for the switch was the age of the stalls and a change in the genotype which produced sows that were too big for them.

Staff were told that management was confident in the success of the system, based on conversions in other countries including Denmark.

“Of course, the job is never finished.” There is some aggression when the sows are first brought in, but they sort themselves out, pick out their lying areas and settle down fairly quickly. Stock people at Perkins Farms now report that the sows are more relaxed and they don’t associate people with feed. Increased fitness of the sows has also reduced difficulties in farrowing and longevity has increased with sows now staying in the herd for eight to nine parities.

Waldner said Hartland Colony decided to convert its 10-year-old barn without removing the sows, although the number of animals in the herd was cut back by half during the process.

Planning was started a year ahead of the conversion and the crew chose an electronic feeding system that was easy to train gilts and sows and could cope with two types of feed plus medication.

Pens were set up in a dynamic system with groups sorted by age.

Training stations were set up to prepare gilts for the transition into the larger gestation pens. Waldner said they found out that training was much easier if the pigs were not fed the day before. Most important is the need to ensure that they are trained on the feeding stations before they go into the group.

Barn staff must also be fully trained in how the system works, said Waldner.

“Managing an ESF system is a lot different than stalls,” he said, adding that patience is the most important aspect of getting people and animals properly trained.

“I’m glad it’s over,” said Waldner in wrapping up his presentation. So far, though, it seems to have been worth it. He saw dramatic improvements in the sows within five days of moving them from the gestation stalls into the group housing area. The sows are farrowing more quickly and with fewer problems than in the past, he said.

The Red Deer Swine Technology Workshop is an industry project managed by a volunteer board and funded by key sponsors, including Alberta Agriculture and Forestry, Alberta Pork, Alberta Pork Congress, AgSafe Alberta, and a variety of farms and industry partners. •

— By Brenda Kossowan