As many pig farmers struggle to keep afloat in the face of soaring feed costs, rising energy prices, and a difficult world market, they are also dealing with recently introduced European rules that ban the prophylactic use of antibiotics, and restrict their metaphylactic use also.
As well as that, this June will see a ban introduced on the use of zinc oxide (ZnO) as a medicated feed additive.
Agriland spoke to Carla Gomes, Pig HealthCheck Programme manager at Animal Health Ireland (AHI) about these changes, and their impact on pig farming in the future.
Change of pig-farming practices
If you were to ask a pig farmer which of the two changes above will have the biggest impact – or which is the most feared – it would be the ban on using ZnO, Carla said.
“The zinc oxide is very effective, so farmers are fearful of not being able to use it when they are managing that critical stage after weaning,” she explained.
While very low levels will still be permitted to satisfy the nutritional requirements of the animal, she said, the current prophylactic use by farmers of high levels of this product – mainly to control diarrhoea – will have to stop.
“A pig has a nutritional need for ZnO, so it should be part of the feed but that nutritional need is very low,” Carla told Agriland.
“Farmers have been using it since the nineties when it was realised that by incorporating ZnO at a very high level, it was also helping to control pathogens and improve performance in weaned pigs,” she said.
Environmental concern
But high-level use of ZnO has become an environmental issue and Europe is leading the charge in its abolition.
In 2017 the Committee for Medical Products for Veterinary Use of the European Medicines Agency completed a review of the safety and effectiveness of veterinary medicinal products containing ZnO being administered orally to food-producing species.
It found that the “overall benefit-risk balance for veterinary medicinal products containing ZnO to be administered orally to pigs is negative“, as the benefits of ZnO for the prevention of diarrhoea in pigs “do not outweigh the risks for the environment”.
Holistic approach to pig farming
This is where a more holistic approach to farming comes in and Carla outlined what will be required of farmers in a world without ZnO.
They will have to review and make changes around:
- The health of the animals, in terms of vaccination programmes and biosecurity measures;
- Hygiene and cleaning procedures;
- Nutrition, such as protein in diet; better water intake; and intake of feed post-weaning;
- Weaning management;
- Reducing stressors post-weaning in terms of environmental and social factors such as floor space; feed space; reduced competition between pigs; a better controlled environment; and better stockmanship.
“There isn’t a quick solution and there isn’t a solution that suits all farms, it will be farm specific,” Carla said.
“That is why it is so important that the farmers have a team around them because they need to look at all aspects and implement the changes required.”
The team she is referring to should comprise a vet, a nutritionist and a farm advisor, she explained.
The sooner that team is in place, the better, which leads us to the issue of the medicated feed ban.
Medicated feed ban
While it might seem plausible that problems posed by the removal of ZnO could be solved – to some extent – by the use of antibiotics, that will not be possible.
On January 28, a new European regulation came into effect banning the prophylactic use of medicated feed – as well as the prophylactic use of antibiotics, generally – with metaphylactic use permitted in exceptional circumstances. Both now require a veterinary prescription.
This significant change to pig-farming practice, will, with a team in place, be a far more manageable experience, Carla pointed out again.
“Prophylactic use of medicated feed is used quite frequently in pig production, especially around weaning time, which is a very stressful period for pigs,” said Carla.
While all farmers are impacted by this change to the use of antibiotics, for pig farmers – and the feed mills – it presents a more logistical headache, Carla explained.
The medicated feed can no longer be produced in large batches, as before, and administering small batches of medicated feed to a small number of animals will not be an easy feat for farmers whose feed systems are not compatible with such a practice, Carla explained.
“Imagine a farm with 1,000 pigs that are all separated in groups of 20 by different pens,” she said.
“In one pen, there is an animal that is sick so the vet says that all the animals in that pen need to be treated. The farmer will have to guarantee that only those animals will receive that feed. But farmers don’t have a system in place that can allow that to be done easily,” she said.
Farmers can, however, explore using the water system for this more targetted administration of small-scale antibiotics, or use injectables as an alternative, Carla said.
But, the aim of these European rules is to reduce dependency on antibiotics due to increased antibiotic resistance, which has become a huge problem. And this takes us back to that holistic approach that Carla referred to earlier.
“These regulations mean that farmers now have to rethink management at farm level. There are several things [outlined above] that the farmer can do that can ease the move away from reliance on antibiotics and ZnO.” she said.
Hope for the future
Carla acknowledged that, currently, it is a “very difficult time” for pig farmers but she offered hope.
In Ireland, she said, there are already pig farmers using limited levels of antibiotics, and no ZnO, and they are successful.
“And what those farmers are telling us is that it takes time, there will be challenges, you need to have patience but you will succeed.
“And what they see when things improve is that things improve, overall, on the farm with greater performance and output.”
AHI is also aiding farmers in this transition to a new era of farming through a number of measures under the Pig HealthCheck Programme including: biosecurity assessments delivered by a trained vet; conducting assessments of risk factors for tail biting; capturing, analysing and reporting of abattoir data from ante- and post-mortem meat inspections, which can pick up sub-clinical diseases not easily identified on the farm.