How Farms are Reducing Antibiotic Use

For the final post in my Midwest Pork Conference Series (the first was about pork industry risks, the second 3 ways to get piglets off to a good start) I will come back to Antibiotics.  This is a topic I have covered quite a bit over the past few years, as it is one of the changing areas of animal agriculture.    We use them to treat sick animals, or in some cases to prevent a flair-up of an existing herd health challenge.  Antibiotic use is monitored by our individual caretakers, on farm health experts, vets, and state regulation, as well as by federal regulatory agencies. While over site has become part of using antibiotics, what can we do to reduce or even discontinue the use?

As a disclaimer, I believe in treating animals that are sick.  Pigs, like people, can suffer from pneumonia, respiratory infections, or skin/tissue infections.  Even those in clean, warm, dry, houses with little stress, can still develop these conditions and do need to be treated.  It is silly to let an animal suffer when we have the tools, and expertise to help it get well.

At the Midwest Pork Conference, I listened to a lecture by a farm manager who has transitioned many farms to an antibiotic free system, and greatly reduced use in others.  These strategies are not rocket science, just getting back to basics and managing the stress and risk that we can control.  In any of these systems, pigs that do get sick are treated, they just can't be marketed as being raised with out antibiotics, although they are still antibiotic free, as are all livestock sold in the United States.  I'm getting to ramble a bit, so why don't we get to the point... 3 strategies for reducing or discontinuing antibiotic use.

Treat the Root Cause

Antibiotics in pork production are usually used to treat secondary infections.  For example, that respiratory disease our pigs have contracted, PRRS, is a virus.  Because the pigs have a virus that weakens their immune system, they are more susceptible to bacterial infections, like staph, strep, and pneumonia.  To reduce our antibiotic use, we would need to work on eliminating the PRRS virus, not just treating the secondary infections.  Of course, this is easier said than done, as you can read about in my prior posts about our PRRS outbreak, and how we were progressing through one month, three months, six months, and one year living with the disease.

As in the example I outlined above, infections are often a result, and not the cause of a problem.  Getting chilled puts enough stress on a piglet that it can weaken it's immune system, making it more likely to get sick.  Weaning piglets off of the sow too soon can leave the immune system not quite ready for the stress of weaning and cause problems.  By keeping the pigs warm enough, and managing for optimum wean age, both of the "root" problems, we avoid the unnecessary stress and immune response that causes the need for treatments.

Manage Gut Health

Getting the gut off to a good start is huge in raising pigs, and should not be overlooked.  Transitioning from a milk based diet to a grain based diet, having consistency in the feed provided, and even water pH can have an impact on the gut microbiota (all of the good bacteria, organisms, and other things in the gut that make it work). It might seem counter-intuitive, but leaving a pig on milk too long can cause it's gut to stall out and not develop properly, just as transitioning to dry feed too early doesn't allow the gut to develop fully.  This is a change we have to carefully monitor and work through gradually. 

Pigs that have healthy guts grow better, have more energy, and are overall more robust.  A robust pig has a better immune system, and is less likely to need medical attention as it grows.  I will go into more detail on gut health and development in a future post, but much like in humans, a happy gut is part of good overall health.

Reduce Stress

Reducing pig stress is a way we already cut down on our antibiotic use.  We aim to move our pigs "all-in all-out.  That means a barn, room, and pen of pigs aren't mixed with pigs of different ages or health statuses.  By keeping pigs with their peers, they usually have the same things going on health wise at the same time, instead of swapping them back and forth with older and younger pigs, causing any bugs to circulate.  We can move pigs less often, and keep them in the same groups, so that they don't have to fight to establish a new pecking order.  Fewer pig handling events will make the pigs more comfortable.

When a pig is stressed, it usually goes off of feed and water.  Not eating or drinking not only stops growth, but it can mess with the pig's gut which is not good!  Sometimes when this happens for a short period of time, say after the small pigs are weaned, the piglets will make "compensatory gains" where they grow faster than normal for a short period of time after the stress is over.  For a long time, the pork industry thought this was a tool to leverage, but actually, the pigs never catch up to where they would be if there was no stress.  Seeing a compensatory gain means that we caused a stress that can lead to gut and immunity problems, and is not a good thing.  Not all stressors can be removed, but realizing what causes pressure in the pig's life is the first step in learning to manage it to the best of our ability. 

Up next, we will turn away from the farm, and get the race recap that all of my canoe friends having been asking about- the Chattajack!