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REVIEW ▶▶▶ ESPHM


Biosecurity, ASF and large litters


Large litters, African Swine Fever, the importance of biosecurity… the 10th


edition of the European


Symposium of Porcine Health Management, held 9-11 May in Barcelona, Spain, touched on a wide variety of topical swine health issues.


BY VINCENT TER BEEK, EDITOR, PIG PROGRESS A


Dr Marta Hernández- Jover, Charles Sturt University, Australia.


lmost 2,000 delegates from 55 countries made their way to Barcelona for the 10th


edition of this annual


pig veterinary event. It has grown in size considera- bly over the years. Quite notably was the presence


of large numbers of overseas delegates – they had come from e.g. Latin America, Asia and Oceania as well to listen to the nine keynote lectures and in total 440 oral and poster presentations.


Pig production in Spain The series of keynote presentations was kicked off by Higuera Pascual, director of Anprogapor, the Spanish pig producers’ organisation. He gave a good analysis as to why Spain’s pig production has grown to be the most important in the EU – in some respects.


The costs of swine diseases The following two speakers focused on the economic aspects of swine diseases. Josep Font Puig, from SIP Consultors in Bar- celona, Spain. His company helps swine farmers to improve their level of efficiency and competitiveness, he said. Mr Font added, “During our professional experience, we have observed that producers who maintain a good control of diseases are able to keep better levels of efficiency in a sustained manner.” Swine diseases with the greatest economic impact, Mr Font named Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS), dysentery, App and colibacillary enteric processes. With regard to PRRS, he said that in acute cases, economic losses can range between € 75 to € 150 per sow per year, depending on the farm.


Interventions on swine farms So would it be possible to calculate what the difference would be if diseases can be prevented? That question was answered by Prof Derald Holtkamp, a well-known expert from Iowa State University in the United States. He presented the results of a cost-benefit analysis that was done on a 3,600 sow farm in Spain, in cooperation with Merck/MSD Animal Health. The farms were stabilised for PRRSv to produce pigs that were negative for the virus at weaning, and to uniformly vaccinate all gilts and pigs for Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae (M. hyo), so that all piglets could be co-mingled into one nursery. Prof Holtkamp said: “Although antimicrobial use in finishing was not measured directly, medication costs in finishing, de- clined by € 0.68 to € 0.74 per pig started during the ‘interven- tion’ period and by € 0.85 to € 1.16 per pig started in the ‘after intervention’ period.”


24 ▶ PIG PROGRESS | Volume 34, No. 5, 2018


Having touched on the environmental regulations for Spain, Mr Pascual stated that with regard to business models, “Spain is radically different from other countries of the European Union,” looking at the integration model which was introduced in the country in the 1970s. Another feature, he stated, is that within Spain, different kinds of production systems can be found apart from large- scale producers, there are also niche producers, focusing on iberico de bellota (outdoor pigs grown on acorns for the famous iberico hams).


PHOTO: VINCENT TER BEEK


PHOTO: VINCENT TER BEEK


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