Swine Management

due to high humidity, the supplemental cooling system needs to be active. It is imperative that supplemental cooling systems are in place in all phases of sow production. These could include evaporative drip or spray cooling and circulating fans. Sprinkling is preferred to fogging, which uses smaller water droplets. Sprinkling cools the skin surface by wetting the skin and allowing the water to evaporate, whereas fogging cools the air and then the air must cool the skin. Most systems will be designed to operate for a period of 1 to 2 minutes up to 4 times per hour. Spray nozzles should provide at least 0.02 gallons of water per hour per head. Low-pressure drip systems in the farrowing house should be rated for 0.5 to 1 gallon per hour. Most operations in the southern states also have installed components such as cool cells, which can be effective in keeping room temperatures 10 to 15 degrees cooler than outside temperatures. Another effective method to cool sows during lactation may be the installation of nose coolers. In farrowing rooms equipped with negative pressure systems using a plenum as an air inlet source, a tube can be connected to the plenum and directed to the bottom of the farrowing crate near the sow's nose while she is lying down. This supplies a constant air movement across her face when the ventilation system is activated.

Check and maintain ventilation: The first step in reducing the impact of heat stress on sow fertility is to make sure that ventilation systems are in good working order and are providing adequate ventilation. Ventilation rates for a sow and litter, gestating sow, and breeding barn sow during the summer months are 500, 150, and 300 CFMs/hd. Following a thorough maintenance inspection, test the ventilation system to ensure that these rates are met. It is not uncommon to find that in even fairly new operations, ventilation systems do not operate as designed. Unless these systems are meeting the required ventilation rates, other management practices that we will describe will not be effective. Additionally, fresh air from the inlets must enter rooms at a speed between 600 to 1,000 ft/min. in order to distribute fresh air and prevent cold air from falling on animals (drafts). Don't overlook fresh air inlets. Adjustments should be made seasonally, and a good year-round air inlet speed goal is 900 ft/min.

Pigs are more sensitive to the combined effects of heat and relative humidity than humans are, since they do not sweat, and it is important to consider heat indexes and activation temperatures of supplemental cooling systems. For example, if it is 75º F in the barn, but the heat index is over 85º

Evidence points to wild boar in transmission of African swine fever
Photo: ©Bernd Settnik / DPA
Wild boar are playing the main role in spreading African swine fever across Europe. Learning how to limit or stop this vector of infection is the central topic of an FAO workshop opening today in Kaunas, Lithuania.

African swine fever is a viral disease of pigs and wild boar that presents as a haemorrhagic fever and results in up to 100 percent mortality of infected animals. It carries no human health risks, but can have immense socio-economic, trade, and food security consequences.

The disease has been spreading throughout the Caucasus and Eastern Europe since its entry into Georgia from Africa in 2007. In the ensuing years, it has crossed borders and entered Armenia, the Russian Federation, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, Poland, Latvia, Estonia, Moldova and recently the Czech Republic and Romania. Any country with a swine production sector or wild boar is at risk.
While all members of the pig family are vulnerable to infection, the clinical disease is seen only in domestic and feral pigs, as well as in the closely related European wild boar. Currently there is no vaccine against the African swine fever virus.

“It is not yet completely clear how the wild boars transmit the disease,” said FAO animal health officer Daniel Beltran-Alcrudo, “but it seems to depend largely on their population density and interaction with low-biosecurity pig production.”

As veterinary services are often not well prepared or experienced in dealing with wildlife, Beltran-Alcrudo said, it is essential to create understanding and coordination with wildlife and forestry authorities – as well as with hunters – to successfully confront the disease.

Entitled, “African swine fever management in wild boar – surveillance and prevention of transmission to/from domestic pigs,” the two-day workshop will allow participants to learn about and discuss different animal health management approaches in wild boar. They will also gain field experience on hunting, biosecurity, sampling, and carcass disposal.

The event will contribute to development of a strategy to prevent the virus from entering countries that are still free of the disease, and better contain the disease in wild boar in already affected countries.

The training complements a recently published manual on African swine fever detection and diagnosis, now available in English and in Russian, which will be distributed to all participants.

If African swine fever becomes established in wild boar or feral pig populations, effective control becomes challenging. The strategy is to minimize contact between wild boar and domestic pigs through fencing of piggeries, limiting the numbers of free-ranging or feral pigs, and ensuring proper disposal of kitchen and slaughtering waste.

Hunting pressure may force long-distance movements of
wild boar, effectively increasing their range.

How best to control African swine fever in wild boar is a source of controversy. Removal of carcasses during epidemics followed by decontamination of the site – while very resource-consuming – has been used widely and successfully in the European Union.

Hunting pressure may force long-distance movements of the animals, effectively increasing their range. Fencing of open areas, the use of repellents, or supplementary feeding can also be problematic and are still the subject of debate. Hunters and hunting clubs, as well as forestry services are considered to be key partners in surveillance and control of the disease in wild boar.

This week’s workshop was organized under the Global Framework for the Progressive Control of Transboundary Animal Diseases (GF – TADs) by FAO, with the participation of front-line professionals from the veterinary services and forestry agencies of Belarus, Bulgaria, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Romania, and Ukraine, as well as representatives of the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), the European Commission and the Federation of Associations for Hunting and Conservation.

“Training and collaboration among agencies are essential if we are to control this deadly pig disease,” said Beltran-Alcrudo. “If not properly addressed, it has the potential to devastate human livelihoods and compromise food security and trade in Europe.“

22 November 2017, Kaunas, Lithuania