How to treat diarrhea in suckling piglets? This method absolutely works.
For diarrhea in suckling piglets, this method absolutely works!
Do a good job in planned vaccination, pay attention to specific immunity and non-specific immunity, and build herd resistance
As a pig farming enterprise, all benefits come from health. In the prevention of piglet diarrhea, it is essential to ensure effective prevention of swine fever, foot-and-mouth disease, pseudorabies, mycoplasma, infectious pleuropneumonia, etc. Swine fever, foot-and-mouth disease and pseudorabies are the foundation of foundations,
Other vaccines such as porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome, Haemophilus parasuis, transmissible gastroenteritis, epidemic diarrhea, Escherichia coli, red dysentery, etc. can be reasonably selected according to the farm's own situation, and need not be insisted upon.
Invest correctly in breeds, and select healthybreeding pigs
First, as apig farm, you must clearly define your position: whether you produce weaner piglets or fattening pigs, whether you producebreeding pigsor commercial pigs, whether you produce local crossbred high-quality pigs or improved lean-meat pigs. Do not invest blindly in breeds; you must choose breeds correctly.
Second, choose healthybreeding pigs. Many pig farms look only at the scale and breeds of thebreeding pigfarm when introducing stock, or even just at personal connections, but neglect thebreeding pighealth standards. After choosing thebreeding pigfarm and breed, it is best to also find out about the production performance of thebreeding pigsalready sold by that farm, and whether there are any hidden diseases. Because buyingbreeding pigsis essentially buying health and reproductive capacity. Finally, to decide whether to take abreeding pigor not, the key is to check whether the inguinal lymph nodes are normal and whether there is bleeding from the skin pores. Only normal ones should be taken, which at least shows that the individual basically has no problems, and after purchase there will basically not be any major problems.
Facility guarantees, temperature and humidity within the control range
A successful pig farming enterprise must have a relatively good farrowing house and a matching nursery house. The facility guarantees mentioned here mainly cover four aspects:
(1) The size of the farrowing house and nursery house must be reasonable and must meet the needs of all-in, all-out management;
(2) Manure and urine cleaning must be convenient, with no dead 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, the relative humidity should be adjusted between 60%-75%. Too wet or too dry is unfavorable for suckling piglets;
(4) On the premise of meeting temperature requirements, the air should be fresh and sunlight sufficient.
Correct disinfection, effective disinfection
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 procedure is "first clean, second wash, third disinfect," that is, through cleaning manure and urine and washing away contaminants, removing 99.9% of harmful filth before disinfecting is correct. Otherwise, no matter what kind of disinfectant you choose, no matter how strong its penetrating power is, or how frequently you change disinfectants, it is wrong and ineffective.
Effective disinfection refers to correctly selecting disinfectants, using a reasonable dilution ratio, and spraying the medicated liquid after atomization into the air, onto the pig's body surface and onto building surfaces. However, the use method of dry powder disinfectants is different.
When disinfecting with pigs present, there should be at least 150ml or more of disinfectant per square meter of pig housing. In cold seasons, it is best to choose dry powder disinfectants for the farrowing house and nursery house to ensure reasonable air humidity and reduce stress. Adopting the method of feeding first and disinfecting afterward can relatively well avoid the stress that disinfection brings to pigs.
Correctly select and use sow feed
Sows need at least 3 types of feed to meet production needs:
(1) Lactating sow feed, used from after 12 weeks of pregnancy until the end of mating after weaning;
(2) Gestating sow feed, used from the end of mating to during the 12 weeks of pregnancy;
(3) Replacement gilt development feed, used from 60kg to the first mating. In particular, it should be noted that to ensure normal production of sows, on the premise of ensuring nutrition, the nutritional level of sow feed can be somewhat lower, but the best raw materials must be selected. Many pig farms add mycotoxin adsorbents to remedy the situation after buying poor corn and wheat bran, which in fact costs more than it saves.
The development of replacement gilts is work that affects a sow's reproductive capacity for her entire life, and must be highly valued. The goal of raising improved-breed replacement gilts is to reach 120kg body weight and have 1 estrus by 180 days of age, and complete the first mating at 190-200 days of age. According to the latest research conclusions, mating after 200 days of age means the individual sow's lifetime reproductive capacity begins to decline.
Pay attention to the feeding plan for pregnant sows to increase piglet birth weight and sow milk quality
To ensure that sows perform excellently in the farrowing house, namely high piglet birth weight and good sow milk, the feeding plan during pregnancy is key. Generally, from weaning to within 12 weeks of pregnancy, a medium body condition is required, and only in late pregnancy can fattening be increased, so that such sows will produce piglets with high birth weight and also have good milk. In short, only the fat deposited by sows in late pregnancy can be rapidly converted into milk after farrowing, and only increasing the feed amount in late pregnancy can increase piglet birth weight. "Feed according to body condition, feed according to piglets, fixed time and fixed amount, appropriate timing and appropriate body condition" is the sixteen-character guideline for raising sows well. Controlling feed and controlling body condition in early pregnancy is the key.
Piglets with high birth weight (around 1.5kg) generally have a survival rate above 96%, while piglets below 1kg generally have a survival rate of around 50%. If the sow's milk is good, the weaning litter weight will be large, and only then will you raise profitable pigs.
Use sodium selenite and vitamin E in mid-pregnancy
This measure can effectively improve piglet uniformity and resistance, and can significantly reduce the probability of piglet diarrhea. It can be administered by intramuscular injection or added to feed, generally implemented from 30-50 days of sow pregnancy.
Deworm sows of internal and external parasites before farrowing
Internal and external parasites of sows do not have a very large impact on the sow's own health and reproductive performance, but they have a very large impact on suckling piglets, so deworming before farrowing is essential. Usually, killing external parasites is the main focus and killing internal parasites is secondary. This is because internal parasites currently cause little harm to pig farms, while external parasites are often overlooked by us pig farmers. For suckling piglets, if external parasites are present, their sleep time will be greatly shortened, thereby affecting their growth, weight gain and resistance, and they are very prone to intestinal diseases. For sows before farrowing, in addition to choosing broad-spectrum deworming drugs, external insecticide treatment must also be done to achieve relatively good results.
There are four key points for cultivating and maintaining good sow appetite:
(1) For sows that reach the expected body condition before farrowing, feed should be restricted 1 week before farrowing, so that the sow develops a strong appetite that carries over to after farrowing;
(2) Within 1 week after farrowing, the sow's daily ration should be slowly increased
(3) After farrowing, ensure that warm water is supplied for 3 days to ensure the sow's stomach health;
(4) Sows in the farrowing house should adopt the method of small amounts and more frequent meals after 1 week, to prevent overfeeding from damaging the stomach and to maintain good sow appetite. Only when sows eat more will they produce more milk. Excellent sows often lose body condition severely, and only by maintaining good appetite can their basic body condition be maintained, and only then can high production performance in the next production cycle be guaranteed.
Cleaning and massage to prevent delayed parturition 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, cold water can also be used in summer. The significance of this measure is not only disinfection and promoting timely and smooth farrowing of the sow, but also shortening the birthing process and improving colostrum quality.
Do a good job in 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 to prevent postpartum agalactia, postpartum fever, mastitis, metritis, etc. It is recommended to avoid using antibiotics for health care as much as possible, and instead choose some probiotics, antimicrobial peptides, bioengineering products or Chinese patent medicines.
Maintain uterine and udder health
For sows that had dystocia and underwent manual assistance during delivery, uterine care must be done well. We should not only care about the postpartum sow's feed intake, 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 out of the vulva, whether the feces are 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.
Correctly formulate the diet 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 piglets' suckling amount are basically consistent, so that the possibility of piglet indigestion is very small. The specific method is: sows within 12-24 hours after farrowing should in principle not be fed or should be limited to within 1kg, and should only be provided with warm bran salt soup to promote appetite and speed up the expulsion of the placenta. After that, feed should be increased by a fixed amount each day. Generally, for new sows of parities 1-2, increase feed by about 500g per day, and for multiparous sows, about 600g.
Umbilical cord handling, leaving no future trouble
The umbilical cord is the fetus's nutritional channel in the mother's body, and after birth it is a window open to the outside world. Harmful bacteria in the farrowing house may harm piglets through this window. Especially in farrowing houses with poor sanitation and poor temperature and humidity control, infection is more likely. In manypig farms, piglets in the farrowing house can be seen 1 week later with red, swollen inflammation where the umbilical cord fell off, indicating improper umbilical cord handling.
There are 3 key points for correctly handling the umbilical cord:
(1) Timeliness: piglets must be handled immediately upon birth, so during the sow's delivery period it must be ensured that someone is responsible for delivery assistance 24 hours a day;
(2) As far as possible, let the piglet make use of the blood in the umbilical cord, which can significantly improve the piglet's vitality;
(3) The umbilical cord should be left as long as possible, but not longer than the leg length. When standing, it must not touch the ground, and it should be ligated at the end far from the limb, and fully disinfected with iodine tincture.
Removing canine teeth before suckling
Removing piglet canine teeth has an obvious effect on protecting the sow's teats and effectively preventing sow mastitis. However, if handled poorly, it will bring greater harm to the sow, so the author suggests that farms without the conditions or without masteredtechniqueare better off not doing it than doing it. There are 3 key points for correctly clipping piglet teeth:
(1) Special tools must be selected. Some pig farms even use surgical scissors or commonly used household scissors, which not only fails to remove them thoroughly, but also makes the canine teeth sharper, making it easier 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 qualified. If it is not qualified, remedial measures must be taken;
(3) Disinfect the cross-section while minimizing irritation to the oral mucosa as much as possible, so it is recommended to apply antibiotics, which also gives good results.
Ensure piglets get enough colostrum
For very robust groups, no special attention is needed, but for relatively weak or uneven groups, the keeper must provide assistance to ensure that every piglet gets enough colostrum. What needs to be reminded to us pig farmers here is that judging whether sow milk is good or not is absolutely not by looking at whether milk comes out of the sow's teats, but by looking at whether the piglets' bellies are full after nursing and whether the piglets' growth is good.
Timely iron supplementation
Iron supplementation for piglets can effectively prevent piglet iron-deficiency anemia and stimulate piglet resistance and growth potential. However, it should be pointed out that the product selected must be an iron preparation containing cobalt and selenium for a more obvious effect. Second is the time of use. Practice has proved that the earlier it is used, the better the effect. Everyone is advised to finish it within 24 hours after piglet birth.
Because piglet skin is very delicate, when administering iron preparations, after injection you must press and restore the skin at the needle hole to prevent the liquid from flowing out and causing waste. Many pig farms look back after finishing and find that many piglets have stained ear roots, indicating nonstandard operation, and the piglets also did not absorb the prescribed dose, so of course the effect is reduced.
Teach feeding at the appropriate time
Successful teaching of feeding means that piglets can eat the prescribed feed intake before weaning. ⟦93 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 average individual weight of 9kg at 30 days of age.
First is the choice of creep feed. Practice has proven that low-protein, high-energy feed is far superior to high-protein, high-energy feed. Using the former results in less diarrhea in suckling piglets, a larger feed intake, better growth, and piglets that are more lively and healthy, making it possible to aim for the goal of an average individual weight of 9 kg at 30 days of age.
Second is the timing of starting to teach feeding. Generally, it needs to start at 5-7 days of age. Piglets looking for things to chew and grind their teeth is a natural habit.
Finally is the method issue. 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 having many troughs placed in multiple locations. The main trough should be placed between the sow and the warming area. The teaching-feeding trough area should be warm and bright, and ensure that the feed in the trough stays fresh. The time for changing 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' imitation ability, it is only necessary to teach the strongest one in the litter to eat.
Castration in batches
Castration, that is, surgical castration, cannot be done as a one-size-fits-all measure. The operation time 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 small-bodied pigs, it can be postponed to a suitable time.
Grasp the standards, and wean at the appropriate time
Weaning time 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 must be ensured to be slightly on the lean side of medium. Only such sows will show excellent performance in the next production cycle;
Second, the piglet's body weight is generally required to reach above 6kg, but if facility conditions are good, it can be appropriately earlier;
Third, the piglet's feed intake: at least the daily feed intake must equal or exceed the daily weight gain before weaning is possible, and only then can safe weaning be achieved.
Adhere to the principle of raising in the original litter
Weaning brings not only physiological pressure to piglets, but also psychological pressure. Therefore, when designing the matching of the farrowing house and nursery house, it is best to let piglets have a transition period of more than 1 week in the farrowing house. We call this original-litter rearing, also called "drive the sow away and keep the piglets." At the same time, we must also ensure 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. This is abbreviated as "four no-changes and one change," namely the environment does not change, the temperature does not change, the personnel do not change, the feed does not change, and the daily ration plan changes. However, for pig farms with very high management levels, if the nursery house's hardware facilities such as warming measures are done very well, piglets can also directly enter the nursery house after weaning.
Step out of the misunderstanding of post-weaning piglet diet supply
Many pig farmers have concluded that moderate restricted feeding of piglets after weaning can significantly reduce the occurrence of diarrhea or edema disease. Although it is traded for benefits, it is still much better than getting sick. Now, with the continuous progress of feedtechnology, free feeding is possible both before and after weaning. What needs our attention 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 only accounts for about 2.5%-3% of body weight. If the method of small amounts with more frequent meals is adopted, then the piglet's feed intake can reach a level of 3.5%-4.5% of body weight, significantly improving the feed intake and growth rate of weaned piglets.
Prevention and control ofthe harm of external parasites to suckling piglets
External parasite infections exist to a greater or lesser extent in the farrowing houses and nursery houses of most pig farms. Suckling piglets rub themselves against pens or walls, and some individuals even show bran-like dander or hair loss on the skin, yet sometimes this does not attract the attention of us pig farmers. External parasites can seriously affect the health and resistance of suckling piglets, and even affect the production performance of fattening pigs for their entire lives.The prevention and controlmethod is very simple: use external-use drugs to kill them. Generally, amitraz, trichlorfon, etc. can be selected, made into aqueous solution, and sprayed on the pig's body surface and on the ground, pens and walls within their living range.
The 5 degrees of benefit
When weaned pigs are transferred from the farrowing house to the nursery house, if the nursery house is preheated in advance and its temperature is 5°C higher than the temperature of the weaned piglets in the farrowing house, it can greatly reduce the stress caused by weighing, moving pens, environmental changes and keeper changes. If your weaned pigs still have various problems during transfer, you might as well try it.
Scientific medication to control diarrhea
Although we have adopted very effective measures, diarrhea still cannot be avoided on pig farms. Therefore, scientific medication and symptomatictreatmentare still very necessary for controlling diarrhea.
1. For the prevention of postpartum sow diseases such as metritis and mastitis, long-acting antibiotics such as long-acting oxytetracycline injection are generally selected, 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 disease resistance and improve the digestive tract environment.
3. For diarrhea in suckling pigletstreatmentSpecial attention must be paid to preventing the development of drug resistance, so it is recommended that the main drugs used be rotated on schedule and that the full course of medication be adhered to.
4.treatmentDuring the process, comprehensive measures such as mild laxatives, antibacterial and anti-inflammatory treatment, fluid replacement, cardiac support, nutrition, keeping warm, and preventing crushing must be consistently applied. Particular attention should be paid to the fact that the temperature of the replacement fluids should be close to or slightly higher than the pig's body temperature.