veterinarians, “changes in disease prevalence and patterns were negligible” in 2018 and onward.
producers (of all sizes) who belong to the Michigan Pork Pro- ducers Association. “It will be designed to tease out how pol- icy and farmers’ efforts to use less MIAs is affecting pig health and performance, and what changes in farm management practices veterinarians and Michigan producers have adopted in order to mitigate those impacts,” explains Dr Thompson. “Based on that input, there will be an outreach component that emphasises science/evidence-based and best practices that promote management over medication.” Dr Chris Rademacher can provide some further insight about “management over medication” in the US pig herd since VFD implementation. Dr Rademacher is a clinical professor of vet- erinary diagnostic and production animal medicine at Iowa State University and chair of the American Association of Swine Veterinarians Pharmaceutical Issues Committee. He says one of the outcomes of the implementation was that it opened up discussion between producers and their veterinar- ians about mass medication using MIAs, particularly at growth-promotion levels in finishing. It has also allowed, he says, “discussions about improvements in biosecurity (par- ticularly in the growing pig herds), sanitation and improve- ments in management as a way to improve overall herd health”. In terms of how VFD implementation has affected prevalence and severity of pig disease in the US herd, Dr Rademacher says that based on his communications with many US swine
Labour and technology More intensive management – proper biosecurity, cleanliness and managing herds more closely to better detect and man- age illness – is very much related to farm labour. According to Dr Thompson, there is a “huge and growing” farm labour shortage in the US. He explains that “even if we are able to sort out all the legal/immigration issues, there will likely be a shortage of folks willing to do this type of work, at least in its current form. However, I think an increasing portion of the daily routine/repetitive and physically challenging work on pig farms will be addressed effectively by precision livestock farming technologies.” Crop farmers, says Dr Thompson, have already reaped vast benefits from implementing precision technologies, but live- stock farmers have been more cautious. In addition, much of the precision tech for livestock farming is still in the relatively early development stages. “Automatic feeders and milking systems are good examples already in use, but the bigger steps forward, in terms of changing the labour equation and antibiotic use, especially for pig producers, are likely to come in the form of video-imaging/tracking systems that will help producers move human inputs to where they are needed on farms,” Dr Thompson explains, “by identifying diseased/sick or lame animals, or animals showing excessively aggressive behaviour.” Overall, however, at this point Dr Thompson believes that US livestock producers understand why it’s important to reduce reliance on MIAs and to move more towards an individualised pig care model. “During the past ten to 15 years the industry has embraced the science and adapted their farm biosecurity practices to PRRSv [Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome], PEDv [Porcine Epidemic Diarrhoea virus] and now ASF [African Swine Fever] (and Covid-19 for their staff),” he
Table 1 – Summary for all medically important antibiotics sold for use in US livestock produc- tion, by species, for the period 2016-2018.
Species 2016 Sales (kg*) 2017 Sales (kg*) 2018 Sales (kg*) % Change
Cattle Swine
3,605,543 3,133,262
Chicken 508,8 Turkey Total
756,62 8,004,226
2,333,839 2,022,932 268,047 670,831
5,295,648
2,521,157 2,374,348 221,774 671,108
5,788,387 % Change
(2016-2018) (2018 vs 2017) -30 -24 -56 -11 -28
8 17
-17 1 9
*Amounts reported in kg of active drug ingredient. Amounts include antibiotics given orally and by injection. However, injected drugs only accounted for about 6% of total sold and amounts were steady over this 3-year reporting period, averaging about 354,000 kg/year. Source: MSU.
▶ PIG PROGRESS | Volume 37, No. 2, 2021 21
PHOTO: KEVIN TURNER, MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60
