Innovative farrowing box Balance Floor to decrease piglet mortality

/in , /by

 

 

The farrowing pen with Balance Floor is an innovative design that has been on the market for several years. The idea behind this concept is a movable floor, which to a large extent prevents piglets from being crushed by the mother.

As soon as the sow stands up, she hits three sensors and the movable floor, on which the sow stands, is raised approximately 20 cm (using cylinders). The piglets cannot climb on this plateau during the first week of life, which is the most critical phase. As soon as the sow lies down the floor gradually descends. In the moment the sow lies down, the risk of crushing injuring/killing the piglets is reduced.

Animal welfare is significantly increased, because the number of piglets that are lost due to crushing is reduced by 80%. The risk of piglets partially trapped or crushed by the mother is also lower. For example, piglets’ claws remain better intact. Any pathogens present do not have a ‘porte d’entrée’ via a wound. This results in better animal health and less need for antibiotics.

As more piglets survive, production data, such as the weaned piglets per sow per year, also rise.

There are also advantages for the farmer. Because there is less risk of crushing, the farmer can keep the piglets with the sow with a more comfortable feeling. There is also time savings, because fewer, if any, inured piglets have to be monitored continuously.

Feeding stations for group housed sows 

/in , /by

 

Generally speaking, there are two ways of feeding pigs: in groups or individually. Examples of group feeding are trough and floor feeding; for individual feeding these are feeding (lying) cubicles and feeding stations.

A major advantage of feeding stations for sows is that each animal can get the amount of feed required (based on Body Condition Score, fat thickness and/or body weight) because there are multiple feeding curves. This is possible for both stable and dynamic groups. Furthermore, a daily report can be made of sows that do not come to eat.

Decisive for success are barn design and set-up of equipment in the barn. For example, functional areas for defecating, resting and eating should be separated and the maximum number of sows per feeding station must not be exceeded. The feeding stations ideally have a long return run, so the feeling of satiety can occur during the return to the group and sows will go straight into the resting area, instead of moving back to the feeding station and disturbing other sows. Placing the drinking facility at the end of the return run also provides extra time for the sow, which improves a relaxed environment for the sows.

An option that can further increase ease of work is the separation box for separating sows for vaccination, pregnancy control, moving to the farrowing pen, heat-detection, etc. And last but not least, don’t forget the gilts training station!

When using feeding stations there are fewer return-to-estrus sows and there are more piglets raised per sow per year.

Buying a sheep without health hazards

/in , , /by

Firstly, one should avoid buying small batches of animals from different origins. Quarantine is always recommended when introducing new animals. It may not prevent all risks, but it can prevent the introduction of diseases such as scabies or footrot.

Indeed, scabies carriers can appear perfectly healthy on arrival if they are still in the incubation phase. To counteract this risk, some administer a suitable antiparasitic as soon as the animal arrives. The risk of introducing footrot on the farm makes it necessary to check the feet as soon as the animals arrive in order to avoid buying affected or doubtful animals.

Even if it is impossible to manage all risks, especially those related to abortive diseases such as Border Disease, Visna-Maedi or Johne’s disease, it is important to know the health status of the seller’s herd.

The mixture of animals from several origins in a new environment can also favour the accelerated emergence of diseases such as ecthyma, scabs on the feet, caseous abscesses (CLA), keratitis. These episodes are more painful when pregnant ewes are included due to the increased risk of abortions.

When buying ewe lambs or rams, it is recommended to buy animals with health guarantees and to give preference to animals qualified by the selection centres.

advance preparation for lambing

/in , /by

The lambing period is a stressful period. Advanced preparation of the lambing equipment can improve productivity and reduce stress.

A cleaning-disinfecting protocol and an inventory of all lambing materials (gloves, lubricant, lambing ropes, aid to align lambs heads during birth), prolapse harness/retainer, iodine for navel disinfection, thermometer is required. At birth ensure access to: frozen colostrum, feeding bottles and teats, stomach tubes, heat lamp, milk replacer. To assist ewes: syringes and needles, oxytocin, energy boost, injectable calcium and antibiotics (under veterinary advice). Lastly: marker spray, tags, disinfectant for lambing equipment and bedding and disinfectant for pens (e.g. straw, lime), fostering crate and basin for wet fostering lambs to a surrogate mother.

During the birth period, the shepherd needs to follow the lambing process and to know how to assist lambing. Dystocia is one of the most important contributors to deaths in newborn lambs. The main causes of dystocia are a disproportionate size or poor presentation of lamb, abortion and prolapse. Assisting difficult births requires practical and theoretical knowledge. The neonatal period is the most vulnerable period in a lamb’s life, therefore understanding the significant risks can help to develop preventative strategies such as additional feeding in the last pregnancy period and reduction of environmental stress factors.

Adequate feeding of the lamb

/in , /by

At birth, colostrum is extremely important for the young animal because it provides disease-fighting maternal antibodies as well as essential nutrients. If colostrum is not available or insufficient from the ewe, the lamb can be provided colostrum from another ewe, ewe or cow frozen colostrum warmed to body temperature.

For the first two weeks of life, lambs need to be fed every 2-3 hours (night meals can be provided every 4 or 5 hours) and then every 4 hours for the next weeks, according to their health status.

For the first several weeks of life, lamb requirements for nutrients are covered by maternal milk. By the time lambs are 4 to 6 weeks old, they may be obtaining as much as 50 percent of their nutrient intake from sources other than their mother’s milk.

Feeding programs of lambs vary, usually affected by the type of production, market options, geographic location, and cost and availability of feedstuffs. Most of the time, lambs born in winter are creep-fed and finished on high concentrate diets, whereas lambs born later in the season are finished at pasture with the ewes. Some feeding programs utilize both pasture and grain.

Control of footrot in sheep 

/in , /by

Footrot caused by Dichelobacter nodosus is a harmful disease for sheep farming. It is imperative to monitor the flock and implement various control measures against the disease.

Firstly, it is necessary to know the risk factors (humid and temperate periods, muddy areas) and to quickly detect the presence of the disease in the flock. To do this, when lameness is observed, or during hoof trimming, the identity of the animal must be recorded and the severity and intensity of the lesions scored according to scale.

A foot-lameness control plan is mainly preventive by a rigorous evaluation of purchased animals, application of quarantine, and by avoiding contact with other herds.

Moderate lesions can be controlled by external and internal hygiene measures, footbathing, foot trimming and individual antibiotic therapy. The footbath must be carried out correctly (pre-washing, liquid level and concentration of disinfectants, time spent, drying).

If the disease is severe, vaccination and antibiotic therapy will be used, after identification of the strain(s) present in the flock. Finally, culling of worst-affected animals and those with recurring cases helps to progressively eradicate the disease. When the outbreak is very large, a repopulation of the herd should be considered.

Handling of dead animals: Hydrolysis

/in , , , , /by

 

One of the problems that can break the biosecurity of a farm is the system for collecting dead animals. There is a great risk of spreading disease on the farm via carcass collection vehicles which travel from one farm to another. In addition, because they are fresh carcasses, the risk of being potential disease carriers is high.

A very effective alternative is the hydrolysis of carcasses on the farm. The carcass hydrolysis system provides temporary storage of carcasses and byproducts where the spontaneous phenomena of self-hydrolysis occur. The hydrolysis that takes place in carcass is similar to that which occurs in other organic materials that are susceptible to self-destruction.

With these systems, authorized by the EU (Regulation 749/2011 of 29 July 2011), a specific container is required to perform hydrolysis and store the dead animals for 6 months.

With this system the following is achieved:

  • Limits the microbiological load to inside the hydrolyser on the farm, reducing the potential contamination that this product has to other farms.
  • Decrease the number of collections per year. Going from 100-150 times to 4-6 times.
  • Direct transport is made from the farm to the authorized processing plant. The truck arrives at the farm clean from the processing plant and returns without passing through any other farm.
  • The same hydrolyser container is returned empty, clean and disinfected to the farm of origin, reducing the risk of spreading pathogens.

Environmental control in the farrowing unit

/in , /by

 

 

The piglet phase is one of the most critical for two reasons: the piglet’s immune system is developing and it is starting to be exposed to pathogens. Because of this, it is necessary to establish correct environmental control to reduce the presence of diseases and produce a stronger and more robust piglet at weaning.

The different temperature needs of the piglet (28-33ºC) and the sow (18-22ºC) make it necessary to design systems that allow these 2 “environments” in the same room.

To ensure correct environmental control in the farrowing unit, three factors must be taken into account:

1.Ventilation

The design of the ventilation of a maternity depends on multiple variables (length, and width of the building, etc.). In a practical way, it can be summarized as follows:

Ventilation must be forced and ideally part of automatic environmental control by means of probes, regulators and curves.

Ideally, the air should enter through a false ceiling with the aim of distributing all the new air evenly throughout the room. This ventilation method also allows the air to be preheated before reaching the area where the animals are.

2. Heating

In the case of the piglets, the most highly recommended heating method is a nest with an electric plate and a self-adjusting light source. With this system the optimum temperature for the piglets is achieved without increasing the electrical expenditure. In addition, the sow area will remain at the correct temperature.

3. Type of floor

Plastic is recommended for ease of cleaning and comfort of the animals. It is important that the floor drains correctly, to have a dry and clean floor available for the piglets.

Real-time health monitoring in pigs

/in , /by

 

 

In order to improve sanitary control on a farm, the ideal would be, on the one hand, to prevent diseases (biosecurity and vaccination) and, on the other hand, to anticipate diseases. Work is currently underway on monitoring systems for early detection of diseases. By detecting them early, rapid, accurate and individualized treatment can be put in place, thus reducing the impact of the disease and reducing the consumption of antibiotics.

A monitoring system can obtain information from images and bisosensors every second and, through a computer system with predefined patterns, this information can be processed in real time to provide useful information to stockpersons.

This technology makes it possible to monitor the animal’s movement over several consecutive days through the use of accelerometers and artificial vision systems and establishes alerts when these reach relatively low levels.

After four to seven days of infection, an animal begins to make changes in its routines such as reducing movement or reducing playing and/or feeding time. With a real time monitoring system, pigs are monitored by video surveillance and movement patterns are established. When those patterns are altered, the computer system issues an alert of a possible case of animal with fever. The suspect animal is then individually tested to determine whether it does indeed have fever and needs to be treated with an antipyretic, or whether it does not have fever but moves to an individual surveillance system over the next few days.

Role of biosecurity in small-scale broiler chicken production

/in , /by

 

There are many infectious diseases that can cause mayhem in the poultry industry. And as time passes, we are acknowledging many more causative agents with probably less aggressive pace, but never the less with high overall costs, and not just financial.

The best method to decrease the impact of a different avian infectious agents is to minimize opportunities for pathogens to be transmitted to poultry houses via breeding stock, eggs, personnel or fomites etc. This minimization we call biosecurity – biosecurity is a strategic and integrated approach that encompasses the policy and regulatory frameworks for analysing and managing relevant risks to human, animal and plant life and health, and associated risks to the environment (Hawkes and Ruel. 2006).

In order to implement biosecurity in your poultry farm first follow these easy steps:

  1. You must have a responsible person regarding biosecurity (ideally this person should have previous knowledge regarding biosecurity implementation).
  2. Invest in employee education on biosecurity.
  3. Strictly separate clean area from dirty area, for example hatchery is a clean area but waste collection room is obviously a dirty area. You can mark a border of clean and dirty area.
  4. Change all clothes when entering farm – even if it is just to quickly grab something.
  5. Don’t forget about pests e.g. rats, flies, etc. – keep the farm clean.
  6. Regularly check feed and water.

It is better to start small than quit half way through.