The 6321 that pig farmers must know: details determine success or failure
Establish 6 concepts
Awareness determines action, and action produces results; the success or failure of pig farming depends on our understanding.
1. Awareness of good breeds
What we raise are good-breed pigs, and good breeds are different from traditional breeds. The basic principle of raising good-breed pigs is high input and high output; modern methods must be used to raise modern pigs.
2. Risk awareness
There are risks in pig farming, mainly disease risk and market risk. At present, disease risk has surpassed market risk to become the number one risk in pig farming. How to raise pigs until they can be sold healthy is a question every pig farm owner must think over carefully. In the face of risk, what we must prepare is: scientific input, effective methods to avoid risk, and psychological preparation for facing failure.
3. Commodity awareness
The purpose of raising pigs is to make money, and buying and selling are unavoidable. Effective procurement can reduce costs. The principles of commodity procurement: practicality, foresight, scientific soundness, and economy. Pigs are commodities in our hands that have not yet been converted into cash; we raise them because we need to make money through them, and only by treating them well can we get good returns.
4. Awareness of details
The benefits of pig farming are the accumulation of benefits from many points, and details determine success or failure. Some things can be done well right now, while others cannot be done right now; doing well every thing at hand is success. Take the preparatory work for a sow about to give birth as an example to explain the importance of paying attention to details and doing small things well:
Preparation of the farrowing room
Cleaning——high-pressure water washing——soaking in 2—3% caustic soda solution for 60 minutes——rinsing clean and drying——spraying iodine preparation——drying——spraying aldehyde preparation——moving pigs in after 3 days
Preparation of warming facilities
Check the lines——check the switches——adjust and test the warming boards——adjust and test the infrared lamps
Preparation of birthing supplies, including disinfected rags, ligature thread, tooth-cutting forceps, tail-docking forceps, disinfectants, emergency medicines, midwifery equipment, etc.
Preparation of the sow: deworm 14—7 days before farrowing, start feeding health-care medicines 7 days before farrowing, and move into the farrowing room after cleaning, reverse-hair disinfection and drying; reduce feed 4 days before farrowing, inject lutalyse on the morning 1 day before farrowing, and have a dedicated person on duty to assist the birth on the day of farrowing.
5. Information awareness
Society has entered the information age, and the knowledge economy and information economy are features of the modern economy. Information changes rapidly, and establishing good interpersonal relationships helps obtain timely and accurate information.
6. Learning awareness
Society develops and science and technology advance, with new products and new methods changing with each passing day; continuous learning, linking theory with practice, and raising pigs with scientific methods are the only way to achieve sustainable development.
Solve 3 problems
Immunosuppression, immune failure, and improper biosafety control are the three major reasons for the current situation in the pig industry where diseases are many and difficult to treat. Immunosuppression refers to damage to the body's immune system and reduced immune function caused by pathogenic factors. From the perspective of an individual pig farmer, pig disease prevention and control should focus on relieving immunosuppression, reducing immune failure, and strengthening biosafety.
1. Causes of immunosuppression and solutions
1) Viruses
Mainly including classical swine fever virus, porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus, pseudorabies virus, parvovirus, and porcine circovirus type 2, etc. Classical swine fever, PRV, and PPV can be controlled through vaccination, while PCV-2 and PRRSV are currently mainly prevented and controlled through comprehensive measures such as controlling bacterial infections, antiviral Chinese herbal health care, and disinfection.
2) Bacteria and parasites
Mainly including Haemophilus, Escherichia coli, Mycoplasma, Toxoplasma, Eperythrozoon, Coccidia, etc. At present, only the immune effects of Escherichia coli and Mycoplasma pneumonia vaccines are relatively certain; the others are mainly prevented and controlled through drug-based health care.
3) Physical and chemical factors
Mainly including mycotoxins, heavy metals, industrial chemicals, radiation, etc. The focus of prevention and control is adding mycotoxin treatment agents to the diet.
4) Pharmacological factors: use drugs with immunosuppressive effects with caution.
5) Nutritional factors: choose regular products and scientific formulas.
6) Stress: strengthen management to reduce stress and use anti-stress products.
2. Methods to reduce immune failure
1) Choose mature vaccines.
2) Formulate a scientific immunization program and immunize at the proper time according to the program.
3) Eliminate immunosuppression. Among all factors that cause immunosuppression in pigs, mycotoxins have the greatest and most common impact. Mycotoxins cannot, like PRRSV, PCV-2, and PRV, produce antibodies through infection or vaccination; they have lasting and enormous destructive power. For this reason, adding an effective dose of mycotoxin treatment agent to the diet should be regarded as routine practice, to ensure that sufficient and effective antibodies are produced after vaccination.
4) Use immune enhancers: at the same time, use a thermometer to monitor body temperature.
5) Improve the micro-environment of the pig house to prevent pathogens from accumulating in excessive amounts beyond the protective capacity of the vaccine. Clean the pens at least 2 times a day, and perform air disinfection 1-2 times a week.
6) Standardize vaccination operations: use vaccines within the validity period and with normal sensory properties; clean and disinfect vaccination equipment; choose the appropriate injection site; do not use flying needles, disinfect for each pig, use one needle per pig, mark one pig at a time, use large needles for large pigs and small needles for small pigs; after vaccination, clean and disinfect the equipment, and harmless treatment of vaccine bottles and remaining vaccine; minimize stress within 1 week after vaccination to increase vaccine take.
3. Strengthen biosafety
The three basic conditions for the epidemic of infectious diseases are the source of infection, the route of transmission, and susceptible animals.
Commonly used control methods:
Harmless treatment of dead bodies and contaminated materials, disinfection of the environment, and reduction of sources of infection; control of people, mosquitoes, flies, rats, dogs, cats, cockroaches, poultry, birds, transport vehicles, and pig farm equipment to cut off transmission routes; improve the specific and nonspecific disease resistance of healthy pigs to reduce susceptible animals.
Rural pig farming must pay special attention to biosafety control!
Grasp 2 key points
Key point one: sows
1. Sows are production machines. Valuing sow nutrition is as important as valuing the money in your pocket.
2. Sows are the cradle of disease. The general pattern of disease transmission is mother→piglet and large→small; the health of the pig herd begins with sow health care.
3. Sows are the source of life. Pig farm management should start with sows.
4. Gilts are the first role a sow plays in its life, and the rearing of gilts affects its lifelong performance.
Key point two: piglets
1. Pigs within 70 days of birth are called piglets, and piglets differ from adult pigs in physiology and immunity. Piglets are the sun of tomorrow, and piglets are the hope of making money, so careful rearing is only natural.
2. Piglets' body temperature regulation function is not fully developed. Creating a warm and comfortable micro-environment can greatly reduce the incidence of disease in piglets; at present, most use the warming method of farrowing crates + electric heating plates + infrared lamps.
3. Piglets' digestive function is not fully developed. Special attention must be paid to the quality of milk replacer and creep feed, and care must be taken to prevent disease from entering through the mouth.
4. Piglets' immune system is not fully developed. Eating enough colostrum as early as possible and starting the "three-needle health care" program are helpful for disease prevention and control.
Adhere to 1 center
When mountains pile up and rivers wind and there seems no way out, health-care pig farming is the way forward. The Animal Epidemic Prevention Law stipulates that animal disease prevention and control must "focus on prevention, with treatment as a supplement," and this is precisely the essence of health-care pig farming. It has changed the status and role of the traditional treatment-oriented veterinarian, highlighted the advantages of the health-care and prevention-oriented veterinarian, and truly embodied the disease view of "treating before illness" in the motherland's traditional Chinese medicine. From the perspective of economics, it has changed the mode and focus of cost input. It changes after-the-fact input in response to each problem into planned and procedural beforehand input, emphasizes risk control, and increases the safety of funds; the focus of input shifts from feed cost > treatment cost > health-care cost > disinfection cost to feed cost > disinfection cost > health-care cost > treatment cost.
1. Principles of health-care pig farming:
Supporting the vital and eliminating the pathogenic: supporting the vital means adopting various technical measures to maintain and strengthen the animal body's own disease resistance; eliminating the pathogenic means adopting various technical measures to reduce or eliminate various pathogenic factors.
2. Methods of health-care pig farming
1) Vaccination to improve specific immunity, and improving nonspecific immunity through nutrition and immune regulation;
2) Good environmental hygiene, regular disinfection, timely deworming, appropriate addition of drugs, and providing good "feng shui" and feeding management.
3. Specific applications of health-care pig farming
Principles to follow when formulating health-care plans: does not produce or easily produce drug resistance; does not cause immunosuppression and does not destroy vaccine effects; no hormones, does not cause atrophy of glands that secrete internal hormones, and does not produce drug dependence.