What to do about diarrhea in suckling piglets? 25 comprehensive prevention and control measures, none can be omitted
25 measures for comprehensive prevention and control of diarrhea in suckling piglets, none can be omitted!
Pig farming is a systematic project, and it is not as simple as most people imagine. To raise pigs well, you need a group of obedient people; to raise profitable pigs, you need a group of people who not only talk the talk but also walk the walk. Forpig farmers, there are now too many opportunities to learn, but please do not forget that raising pigs well does not depend on how many training sessions you have attended, but on how much you have understood and how much you have done well.
I. Do a good job of planned epidemic prevention, focus on specific immunity and non-specific immunity, and build herd resistance
As a pig farming enterprise, all benefits come from health. In preventing diarrhea in piglets, it is essential to ensure effective prevention of swine fever, foot-and-mouth disease, pseudorabies, mycoplasma, infectious pleuropneumonia and so on. Swine fever, foot-and-mouth disease and pseudorabies are the foundation of foundations. Other vaccines such as those for blue ear disease, Haemophilus parasuis, transmissible gastroenteritis, epidemic diarrhea, Escherichia coli, red dysentery and so on can simply be reasonably selected according to the conditions of the farm, and need not be insisted upon.
II. Invest correctly in breeds, and select healthybreeding pigs
First, as apig farm, you must clearly define your position: are you producing weaner piglets or finishing pigs, are you producingbreeding pigsor commercial pigs, are you producing local crossbred high-quality pigs or improved lean-meat pigs. Do not invest blindly in breeds; you must choose breeds correctly.
Second, you must select healthybreeding pigs. Many pig farms look at the scale and breeds of thebreeding pigfarm when introducing stock, and even look only at personal relationships, but neglect thebreeding pighealth standards. After choosing thebreeding pigfarm and breed, it is best to learn more about the production level of thebreeding pigsalready sold by that farm, and whether there are any hidden diseases. Because buyingbreeding pigsis essentially buying health and reproductive capacity. Finally, in deciding whether to take abreeding pigor not, the key is to look at whether the inguinal lymph nodes are normal and whether there is bleeding from the skin pores. Only normal ones can be taken, which at least shows that the individual basically has no problems and that after purchase there will basically not be any major problems.
III. Facility guarantees, with temperature and humidity within controlled ranges
A successful pig farming enterprise must have relatively good farrowing rooms and matching nursery rooms. The facility guarantees mentioned here mainly cover four aspects:
(1) The size of the farrowing rooms and nursery pens must be reasonable and must meet the needs of all-in, all-out operation;
(2) Manure and urine cleanup must be convenient, with no blind corners;
(3) The ambient temperature should be between 20-30°C and controllable, and the warming area for suckling piglets within 15 days of age should be between 25~35°C and controllable. According to the ambient temperature, relative humidity should be adjusted between 60%-75%. Being too wet or too dry is unfavorable to suckling piglets;
(4) On the premise of meeting temperature needs, the air should be fresh and sunlight sufficient.
IV. Disinfect correctly and disinfect effectively
The importance of disinfection needs no emphasis, but the key is how to achieve correct disinfection and effective disinfection. The function of disinfection is actually a remedial measure after environmental contamination, and its side effects cannot be ignored either, so either do not do it, or if you do it, you must ensure it is effective.
The correct disinfection behavior is “first clean, second wash, third disinfect”, that is, through cleaning up manure and urine and washing away contaminants, only after removing 99.9% of harmful filth is disinfection then correct. Otherwise, no matter what kind of disinfectant you choose, no matter how strong its penetrating power is, or how frequently you change disinfectant drugs, it is wrong and ineffective behavior.
Effective disinfection refers to correctly selecting disinfectants, using reasonable dilution ratios, and spraying the medicated liquid in atomized form into the air, onto the body surface of pigs and onto building surfaces. However, the method of using dry powder disinfectants is different.
When disinfecting with pigs present, there should be at least 150 ml or more of disinfectant liquid per square meter of pig housing. In cold seasons, farrowing rooms and nursery rooms should preferably choose dry powder disinfectants to ensure reasonable air humidity and reduce stress. Adopting the method of feeding first and disinfecting afterward can relatively well avoid the stress brought to pigs by disinfection.
V. Correctly select and use sow feed
Sows need at least 3 kinds of feed to meet production needs:
(1) Lactating sow feed, used from after 12 weeks of gestation until the end of mating after weaning;
(2) Gestating sow feed, used from the end of mating to the 12-week period of gestation;
(3) Replacement gilt rearing feed, used from 60 kg to the first mating. A special reminder is that to ensure sows can produce normally, on the premise of ensuring nutrition, the nutritional level of sow feed can be somewhat lower, but you must choose the best raw materials. Many pig farms, because they bought poor corn or wheat bran, add mycotoxin adsorbents to remedy it, which in fact costs more than it is worth.
The rearing of replacement gilts is work that affects a sow's reproductive capacity for her entire life, and must be taken very seriously. The goal for raising improved-breed replacement gilts is to reach 120 kg body weight and have 1 estrus by 180 days of age, and to complete the first mating at 190-200 days of age. According to the latest research conclusions, if mating occurs after 200 days of age, the individual sow's lifetime reproductive capacity begins to decline.
VI. Pay attention to the feeding plan for pregnant sows to increase piglet birth weight and improve sow milk quality
To ensure sows perform excellently in the farrowing room, that is, piglets having high birth weight and sows having good milk, the sow's feeding plan during pregnancy is key. Generally, it is required that from weaning to within 12 weeks of gestation the sow be in medium body condition, and only in late gestation may she gain condition and fat. Only such sows will produce piglets with high birth weight and will also have good milk. In short, only the fat deposited by sows in late gestation can be rapidly converted into milk after farrowing, and only by increasing the feeding amount in late gestation can piglet birth weight be increased. “Feed according to body condition, feed according to piglets, fixed time and fixed amount, appropriate timing and appropriate condition” are the sixteen-character guideline for raising sows well. Controlling feed and controlling body condition in early gestation is key.
Piglets with high birth weight (about 1.5 kg) generally have a survival rate above 96%, while piglets below 1 kg generally have a survival rate of about 50%. If the sow has good milk, weaning litter weight will be high, and only then will profitable pigs be raised.
VII. Use sodium selenite and vitamin E in mid-gestation
This measure can effectively improve the uniformity and resistance of piglets, and can noticeably reduce the probability of diarrhea in piglets. It can be given by intramuscular injection or added to feed, generally implemented from 30-50 days of sow gestation.
VIII. Deworm sows internally and externally before farrowing
Internal and external parasites of sows do not have a very great impact on the sow's own health and reproductive performance, but they have a very great impact on suckling piglets, so deworming before farrowing is essential, usually focusing mainly on eliminating external parasites and supplementarily on eliminating internal parasites. This is because internal parasites now cause very little harm on pig farms, while external parasites are often neglected by us pig farming friends. For piglets, if external parasites are present, their sleep time will be greatly shortened, thereby affecting their growth and weight gain and resistance, making intestinal diseases very likely to occur. For sows before farrowing, in addition to choosing broad-spectrum deworming drugs, external insecticide treatment must also be done to achieve relatively good results.
IX. Cultivate and maintain good appetite in sows
There are four key points: (1) For sows that have reached the expected body condition before farrowing, feed should be restricted 1 week before farrowing, so that the sow develops a strong appetite and carries it over to after farrowing;
(2) Within 1 week after farrowing, the sow's daily ration should be slowly increased
(3) After farrowing, it must be ensured that warm water is supplied within 3 days to ensure the sow's stomach health;
(4) Sows in the farrowing room should adopt the method of small amounts and more frequent meals after 1 week, to prevent overfullness from damaging the stomach and to maintain good appetite in sows. Only when sows eat more will they produce more milk. Excellent sows often lose condition severely; only by maintaining good appetite can their basic body condition be maintained and the high production performance of the next production cycle be guaranteed.
X. Cleaning and massage to prevent delayed labor and dystocia and speed up the birthing process
For sows that have reached their expected farrowing date, regardless of whether there are signs of labor, cleaning and massage are needed. The method is very simple: use warm 0.1% potassium permanganate aqueous solution to clean and massage the sow's vulva and abdomen. Of course, in summer cold water can also be used. The significance of this measure is not only disinfection and promoting timely and smooth farrowing in sows, but also shortening the birthing process and improving colostrum quality.
XI. Do a good job of postpartum disease prevention
Sows have a strong self-recovery ability after farrowing and generally do not need any health care. However, under the current complex disease situation, we have to be careful. The main focus is preventing postpartum agalactia, postpartum fever, mastitis, metritis and so on. It is recommended to avoid using antibiotics for health care as much as possible, and instead choose some microecological preparations, antimicrobial peptides, bioengineering products or Chinese patent medicines.
XII. Maintain the health of the uterus and udder
For sows that had dystocia and underwent manual assistance during delivery, good uterine care must be done. We must not only care about the feed intake of postpartum sows, but also observe the following 3 aspects:
(1) From the front, look at the trough, look at the nose mirror, look at the eye corners;
(2) From the rear, look at whether there is dirty material flowing from the vulva, whether the stool is dry, and whether the urine is yellow-red.
(3) Observe whether the sow is willing to nurse. Sows that refuse to nurse generally have mastitis or subclinical mastitis, and must be treated promptly. A very main reason why postpartum sows do not eat is that they have metritis or mastitis.
XIII. Correctly formulate the ration plan for 1 week after farrowing
The principle is from less to more, ensuring the “three unifications”, namely that the sow's feed intake, the sow's milk yield and the suckling piglets' milk intake are basically consistent, so that the possibility of indigestion in piglets is very small. The specific method is: sows within 12-24 hours after farrowing are in principle not fed or are limited to within 1 kg, and are only provided with warm bran salt soup to promote appetite and speed up the expulsion of the placenta. After that, feed is increased by a fixed amount each day. Generally, for new sows of parity 1-2, about 500 g is added per day, and for multiparous sows, about 600 g.
XIV. Umbilical cord treatment, leaving no future troubles
The umbilical cord is the fetus's nutritional channel in the mother's body. After birth, it is a window open to the outside world, and harmful bacteria in the farrowing room may use this window to harm piglets. This is especially true in farrowing rooms with poor sanitation and poor temperature and humidity control, which are more likely to lead to infection. In manypig farms, piglets in the farrowing room show redness, swelling and inflammation at the place where the umbilical cord fell off after 1 week, indicating improper umbilical cord treatment.
Correct umbilical cord treatment has 3 key points:
(1) Timeliness: piglets must be treated immediately upon birth, so during the sow's farrowing period it must be ensured that someone is responsible for delivery assistance 24 hours a day:
(2) Let piglets make use of the blood in the umbilical cord as much as possible, which can noticeably improve the piglet's vitality;
(3) The umbilical cord should be left as long as possible, but should not exceed the length of the legs, must not touch the ground when standing, and should be ligated away from the limb end and fully disinfected with iodine tincture.
XV. Removing canine teeth before suckling
After piglet canine teeth are removed, the effect on protecting the sow's teats and effectively preventing sow mastitis is obvious. However, if handled poorly, it will bring greater harm to the sow, so the author suggests that farms without the conditions or without masteredtechnologywould be better off not doing it than doing it. Correctly clipping piglet teeth has 3 key points:
(1) Special tools must be selected. Some pig farms even use surgical scissors or commonly used household scissors to do it, which not only fails to remove them thoroughly, but also makes the canine teeth sharper and more likely to bite the sow's teats or cause mastitis;
(2) Removal must be thorough and neat, and fingers must be used to check whether the cross-section is acceptable. If it is not acceptable, remedial measures must be taken;
(3) Disinfect the cross-section, and minimize stimulation to the oral mucosa as much as possible, so it is recommended to apply antibiotics, which also gives good results.
XVI. Ensure piglets get enough colostrum
For very robust groups, no special attention may be needed, but for relatively weak or uneven groups, the keeper needs to provide assistance to ensure every piglet gets enough colostrum. What needs to be reminded to us pig farming friends here is that judging whether a sow's milk is good or not is absolutely not by looking at whether milk comes from the sow's teats, but by looking at whether the piglets' bellies are full after suckling and whether the piglets' growth is good.
XVII. Timely iron supplementation
Iron supplementation for piglets can effectively prevent iron deficiency anemia in piglets and stimulate piglets' resistance and growth potential. But it should be pointed out that the product chosen must be an iron preparation containing cobalt and selenium, for a more obvious effect. Next is the timing of use. Practice has proved that the earlier it is used, the better the effect. Everyone is advised to complete it within 24 hours after piglets are born.
Because piglets' skin is very delicate, when giving iron preparations, after injection you must press and restore the skin at the needle hole to prevent the medicinal liquid from flowing out and causing waste. In many pig farms, looking back after completion, many piglets are found to have stained ear roots, indicating nonstandard operation, and the piglets also did not absorb the prescribed dose, so of course the effect is reduced.
XVIII. Teach feeding at the appropriate time
Successful teaching of feeding means that piglets can eat the prescribed feed intake before weaning.
First is the choice of creep feed. Practice has proved that low-protein, high-energy feed has far more advantages than high-protein, high-energy feed. Piglets using the former have less diarrhea, greater feed intake, better growth, and are more lively and healthy, and can challenge the goal of an average individual weight of 9 kg at 30 days of age.
Second is the question of when to start teaching feeding. Generally it needs to start at 5-7 days of age. Piglets looking for things to chew and grind their teeth on is a natural habit.
Finally is the question of method. Conditions must be created to meet the needs of teaching feeding, so that pigs learn to eat as soon as possible and eat more. The key to successful teaching of feeding is to have many troughs and place them in multiple spots. The main trough should be placed between the sow and the warming area. The teaching-feeding trough area should be warm and bright, and it must be ensured that the feed in the trough stays fresh. The time for changing feed or adding feed in the trough is best done about 2 hours after the sow eats. If piglets still do not eat after doing this, then forced feeding is needed. Using pigs' imitative ability, it is only necessary to teach the strongest piglet in the litter to eat.
XIX. Castrate in batches
Castration, that is, surgical neutering, cannot be done as a one-size-fits-all measure; the timing of the operation needs to be determined according to individual or group conditions. Although the recommended time is 7-15 days of age, and at the latest must not exceed 21 days of age, for some weak, sick or low-body-weight pigs it can be postponed to a suitable later time.
XX. Grasp the standards and wean at the appropriate time
The time of weaning is not determined by temperature, season or environmental conditions, but by the condition of the sow and piglets. The author temporarily calls this the “three elements of weaning”:
First, the sow's body condition, which must be ensured to be a little leaner than medium. Only such sows will show excellent performance in the next production cycle;
Second, the piglets' body weight, generally required to reach above 6 kg, but if facility conditions are good, it can be appropriately earlier;
Third, the piglets' feed intake. At least the daily feed intake must equal or exceed the daily weight gain before weaning can be done, and only then can weaning be safe.
XXI. Adhere to the principle of raising in original litters
Weaning brings not only physiological pressure to piglets, but also psychological pressure. Therefore, when designing the matching of farrowing rooms and nursery rooms, it is best to let piglets have a transition period of more than 1 week in the farrowing room. We call this original-litter rearing, also called removing the sow while keeping the piglets. At the same time, we must also ensure that the keeper does not change, the ambient temperature does not change, and the feed does not change, but the daily ration supply needs to change, abbreviated as “four unchanged, one changed”, namely the environment unchanged, temperature unchanged, personnel unchanged, feed unchanged, and the daily ration plan changed. But for pig farms with very high management levels, if the hardware facilities of the nursery room, such as warming measures, are done very well, piglets can also directly enter the nursery room after weaning.
XXII. Step out of the mistaken approach to daily ration supply for weaned pigs
Many pig farming friends have concluded that moderately restricted feeding of piglets after weaning can noticeably reduce the occurrence of diarrhea or edema disease. Although this is achieved by trading away benefits, it is still much better than getting sick. Now, with the continuous advancement of feedtechnology, free feeding is possible both before and after weaning. What we need to pay attention to is that the significance of free feeding and small amounts with more frequent meals after weaning lies in the difference in feed intake: within 1 week after weaning, the feed intake under free feeding generally accounts for only about 2.5%-3% of body weight. If the method of small amounts with more frequent meals is adopted, then piglets' feed intake can reach the level of 3.5%-4.5% of body weight, significantly improving the feed intake and growth rate of weaned piglets.
XXIII.Prevention and controlof the harm of external parasites to suckling piglets
External parasite infections exist to a greater or lesser extent in the farrowing rooms and nursery rooms of most pig farms. Suckling piglets rub against railings or walls to relieve itching, and some individuals even show bran-like dandruff or hair loss on the skin, which sometimes does not attract the attention of us pig farming friends. External parasites can seriously affect the health and resistance of suckling piglets and can even affect the production level of finishing pigs for their entire lives.ControlThe method is very simple: use topical medication to kill the parasites. Generally, amitraz, trichlorfon and the like are chosen, made into an aqueous solution and sprayed on the pig's body surface and on the floors, fences and walls within its living area.
24. Benefit of 5°C
When weaned piglets are moved from the farrowing room to the nursery room, if the nursery room is preheated in advance and is 5°C higher than the temperature the weaned piglets had in the farrowing room, the stress caused by weighing, moving pens, changes in environment and caretakers, etc. can be greatly reduced. If your weaned pigs still have various problems when being moved between groups, you might as well give it a try.
25. Scientific medication to control diarrhea
Although we have adopted very effective measures, diarrhea is still unavoidable on pig farms. So scientific medication and symptomatictreatmentare still very necessary for controlling diarrhea. 1. For the prevention of postpartum diseases in sows such as metritis and mastitis, long-acting antibiotics such as long-acting oxytetracycline injection are generally chosen, but note that each injection site should not exceed 10ml to prevent poor absorption and cyst formation. 2. For piglet health care, the key is to build up resistance and improve the digestive tract environment.
3. For diarrhea in suckling piglets,treatmentspecial attention must be paid to preventing the development of drug resistance, so it is recommended that the main drugs used be replaced on schedule, and that the full course of medication be adhered to.
4.During thetreatment process, comprehensive measures such as mild laxatives, antibacterial and anti-inflammatory treatment, fluid replacement, cardiac support, nutrition, warmth retention and pressure prevention must be adhered to. Special attention should be paid to the fact that the temperature of the replacement fluid should be close to or slightly higher than the pig's body temperature. (Source: New Pig Network)