PRRS = FIRE
SRD signs and symptoms
By Dr. Pat Hoffmann and Dr. Jessica Risser
Swine respiratory disease (SRD) is a frustrating, ongoing battle in many herds. A proactive approach with prevention, close observation and a ready-to-use backup management plan are critical to stave off resulting economic impacts.
“What we forget sometimes is that impacts early on in the nursery will flow all the way to the finisher and to the packer,” Hoffmann said. SRD is responsible for 44.2 percent of nursery mortalities, which equates to fewer pigs reaching finishing.1 Pigs that do survive SRD can have lasting effects on their average daily gain (ADG) and overall finishing weight.2 For every 10 percent of lung area affected, ADG decreases by 37.4 grams.3 Mortality loss and decreased ADG cause an economic loss for producers in the nursery through to finish.2
“If swine respiratory disease is not controlled or addressed early, you can actually develop some chronic lesions in those pigs and there will be more permanent fibrous attachment between the lungs and thoracic cavity."
SRD signs and symptomsMany stressors are placed on nursery pigs, yet this is also a critical time to set up a solid growth trajectory for them.
So, how can we help them stand strong against SRD?
Know their rootsA good portion of the health battle is knowing what you are up against. What were they exposed to at the sow farm? What were they not exposed to? What is prevalent in the area of the nursery site? What will they be exposed to from commingling herds? Were they creep fed? Working closely with your veterinarian, a key portion of developing your transition plan involves understanding what happened in the first couple weeks of these piglets’ lives — and the sow’s life.
Make sure they drink upOne of the early signs your pigs aren’t feeling well is their water intake. Monitoring for a drop in 24-hour water consumption will often indicate that there is something wrong before they even start to show signs of clinical symptoms.
Snout to tail protectionYour health plan should include your prevention plan as well as your treatment plan if — or more likely, when — a challenge presents itself. Your prevention strategy should be centered on minimizing the risk and impact of a disease challenge that could adversely affect pig production. Your plan should protect at two levels: what you know they will experience, and what they might experience. This circles back to knowing what you are up against. Don’t get stagnant. Herd health plans should be living documents that evolve with experience, as well as new developments and updates in technology.
Get to the bottom of any surprisesNo prevention plan is perfect, or works 100% of the time. With this in mind, closely monitoring your herd down to the individual pig could protect your downstream profit. Once you see clinical signs in one pig, you may already have damage spreading through the barn. Early response is critical at every stage, but especially with young pigs. And, while early response matters, the correct response matters as well. Utilize your veterinarian and technical consultants to examine clinical signs and historical data to make a decision, while you run any additional tests or diagnostics that are recommended. The clinical signs, incidence rates and overall sense of urgency will help inform your next steps as well. Starting with your infected pig, often the first look will be to individual pig treatment, followed by a water soluble or feed additive for the whole herd.
Think of it as a today, tomorrow, two days and two weeks approach. If you need to treat today, you will likely choose an injectable. If the issue isn’t high mortality, you can pick a longer acting injectable or look for a water solution to get ahead of an outbreak. If there is more time, you can look at a feed solution. Then further down the line, a vaccine as a preventative if the diagnostics and herd health warrant it.
PRRS = FIREImagine porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome as a fire hazard — you have several measures in place to prevent it from happening that often work, but occasionally, you still have to face the challenge.
Now, imagine a PRRS break as a house on fire. Firefighters will focus on putting out that fire, but they will also spray down the houses next to it, preventing a secondary issue in the neighborhood. Taking precautions against opportunistic secondary challenges trying to enter your herd while a pig’s immune system is fighting the PRRS virus is critical.
The additive cost of pathogen combinations can grow rapidly. This economic impact is calculated on a number of factors, including an increase in mortality, culls and tailenders (MCT), and a reduction in ADG.
The impact of multiple challenges is also exponential — combined challenges can double or triple the economic impact on your bottom line.4
Routine surveillance and staying vigilant with biosecurity practices can greatly impact your chances with PRRS.
“A lot of time we try to do a PRRS outbreak investigation after the fact, and if you’re not doing some type of a routine surveillance before, it makes that process even harder to figure out where it entered the farm, how it got into the barn and how long it’s been there. If we’re uncovering this a month after it arrived, then we have a limited ability to confirm those things,” said Hoffmann.
Managing respiratory disease is indeed a challenge, but with a plan, you have a chance to mitigate potential herd health challenges and economic impacts of individual SRD events and possible co-infections. With Elanco’s extensive SRD expertise and portfolio, we can assist in evaluating and determining the best SRD management strategy for your operation.
References:1USDA 2007. Swine 2006 Part I: Reference of Swine Health and Management in the United States, 2006. Fort Collins, CO: USDA APHIS: VS, CEAH. Publication N475.1007.
2Qin, S., et al. Viral communities associated with porcine respiratory disease complex in intensive commercial farms in Sichuan province, China. Sci Rep 8, 13341 (2018).
3Straw B., et al. Estimation of the cost of pneumonia in swine herds. Jour of Amer Vet Med Assoc. 1989. 195(12):1702-1706.
4Haden CD, Painter T, Fangman T, Holtkamp D. Assessing production parameters and economic impact of swine influenza, PRRS and Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae on finishing pigs in a large production system. American Association of Swine Veterinarians. 2012 April: 75-76.
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