The Rural Voice, 1979-11, Page 20The directors say:
Editor's note: Directors of any farm commodity group who'd like
to write an occasional letter to their members are invited to use
this space monthly in Rural Voice, free of charge, on a first come,
first served basis.
A common sense approach to raising pigs
BY WILLY KELLER
PERTH COUNTY PORK PRODUCER
This time I am going to talk about baby pig scours and some
ways to prevent them, like immunity. I don't think we spend
enough time and resource in this regard.
When we talk about immunity, I am thinking of micro-
organisms like bacteria which are prevalent on pig farms. Those
small living things provide two functions. They can either
destroy you and make you go broke, or you can make some of
them work for you.
On our farm we like to work with cultures. We prepare
cultures, using organisms already on our farm (mixed culture).
To make a mixed culture on the farm is nothing more than trying
to grow those M. organism which are present in your herd and
expose all the pigs to them, two to three times a year.
This practice is very important in a closet; herd (Farrow to
finish operation) and it works very well for v. To grow this
bacteria you need three things. 1. incubator, 2. controlled
temperature, 3. food for bacteria to grow, and the know-how to
do it.
If you want to grow a pure culture. it's more difficult, because
you have to isolate the ones you don't want. Therefore I would
recommend that you get in touch with a good veterinarian and
I am sure he will help you work with immunity in your herd. Our
cultures are always mixed in with the feed.
If you have an outbreak of At. Rhinitis, Hemophilus
pneumonia, T.G.E., Leptospirosis etc. I would recommend that
you get in touch with your Veterinarian and try to identify the
carriers and get rid of them first.
The reason I like to expose my sows to micro-organism
through cultures is, that they in turn pass some of the immunity
over to the piglets through the colostrum milk. Approximately 25
per cent of the piglets in Ontario are lost on the sow, because
they lack immunity.
I really believe that scours are caused by stress, which comes
from environment, nutrition or infection. Through immunity you
can at least cut down on some infectious diseases.
Stress on baby pigs is a subject by itself and it is most
highly recommend that when those work -shops start again in
your counties this winter, that you consider "Stress on
baby -pigs" on your agenda.
Once we learn all we can about what causes stress on little
pigs, it will be a lot easier to go into other things like how to get
over 16 pigs per sow per year.
Immunity does not replace cleanliness. There is a balance
between cleanliness and immunity at the right time and in the
right place.
Recently I read two articles in "Pig American" where one
expert suggested dismantling all of the equipment (Farrowing
crates) before cleaning and another said he likes to see some
manure left in the gutter.
How is that for confusing a young farmer just starting in the
business!
SMYTN SNOWBLOWERS
Cutting Req'd Approx.
Width H.P. Auger Fan Weight Hoods
Rear Mount
72" (6 ft)
35 & up
Single
24" x 8"
700 Ib
Manual
16"
84"
55
Single
30" x 8"
800 Ib.
Manual
20"
96"
70
Single
30" x 10"
950 Ib.
Hydraulic
20"
96"
100
14"
36" x 10"
1200 Ib
Hydraulic
20"
108"
120 & up
20"
36" x 12"
2000 Ib
Hydraulic
20"
SMYTN
Welding and Machine Shop
RR 2, Auburn, Ontario (519) 529-7212
PG. 18 THE RURAL VOICE/NOVEMBER 1979