The Rural Voice, 1983-09, Page 17cultures and vaccines to pigs has to be
precise and at the right time.
If you are specialized in pig pro-
duction, then make sure you hire a
veterinarian who also specializes in
pigs. The only way the veterinary pro-
fession can help the modern pork
producer is by becoming specialized
themselves. You don't call them in
only to save a pig before death. You
bring them in before you have a pro-
blem, to work with you on preven-
tative medicine. In order to do this,
the veterinarian has to know the com-
plete history of your pig operation
and has to be in touch with you at all
times. Losing a few pigs for a specific
reason is not so bad, compared to the
hundreds of thousands of pigs which
stay alive but are not really healthy.
Animals build up immunity only to
those micro-organisms to which they
are exposed. Even in a closed herd, if
you take two samples a year, the se-
cond sample may show that some of
the disease -causing bacteria which
were in the majority in the first sam-
ple and causing problems, are not so
dominant in the second sample.
Other bacteria have taken over.
Roughly 25 - 30 per cent of the piglets
in Ontario are lost on the sow because
of no immunity.
Years ago we practised natural im-
munity at all times, because the herds
were smaller and the pigs had a
chance to run together. Today, with
our modern barns, natural immunity
can still be practised. And commer-
cial vaccines and drugs can be used in
specific cases. But vaccines and drugs
are expensive, because there is a high
demand for them and because of ex-
cellent salesmanship.
I have attended many meetings and
heard about the wonders of drugs and
commercial vaccines. But I have
never attended a workshop where
somebody talked about natural im-
munity and how to use some of those
micro-organisms, which are already
on a pig farm, to work to your advan-
tage.
Let's take a typical example on a
farrow -to -finish operation where a
respiratory disease is a problem in the
finishing barn. You know something
is wrong when the pigs are coughing
and the time to market is two to three
weeks longer than it should be. By us-
ing different methods like slaughter -
checks, tissue tests, post mortems if
you have a dead pig, or a sample
from droppings, a good veterinarian
will have no problem identifying the
cause and recommending action to
control it. But is that all? No, it is
not. You may not even know what
the basic cause of your problem is.
This is why I would like to see
everyone on a herd health control
program.
I only referred to one problem in
the finishing barn. What about all the
weaners you have around and all the
sows? A control program has to start
with the sows, even if you see the
symptoms in the finishing barn.
Another example in the farrowing
house or in the weaner barn: scours.
If you depend only on commercial
vaccines, which you can buy in dif-
ferent places and which are constant-
ly advertised, then your days on a pig
farm are numbered. Most of them are
not very good in controlling scours.
Times on the farm are tough and
we cannot afford to think only in one
direction. We have to be more flexi-
ble and communicate better.
I think that the County Pork Pro-
ducers Associations also have a duty
to make more use of practical profes-
sionals like swine specialist,
veterinarians and experienced
farmers.
Let's get together and solve the
problems together. E
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THE RURAL VOICE, SEPTEMBER 1983 PG. 15