Two new hog health products have been approved for use in Canada.
Bayer Animal Health has released Baycox 5% to treat piglets for coccidiosis, which is found in the intestinal tracts of animals.
The disease is especially common in young pigs up to 15 weeks of age and causes pasty, yellow diarrhea, dehydration and secondary infections.
Piglets are given the product orally with a dosing gun.
It is absorbed by the body to prevent coccidiosis oocytes from attacking the gut wall, which results in improved intestinal health and more uniform growth for young piglets as well as reduced antibiotic use, said Bayer veterinarian Bruce Kilmer.
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It is available only from veterinarians and is part of a larger management tool. It has a 70 day withdrawal period.
However, Kilmer said producers cannot neglect good barn sanitation in disease prevention regimens.
“Even in extremely clean facilities you can still have the presence of infectious oocytes and it can become endemic in a barn.”
An unpublished study from Ontario found evidence of the infection in 70 percent of litters. Twenty percent exhibited clinical signs of the disease.
The cost of coccidiosis due to lower weights or deaths could cost the Canadian pork industry $20 million a year, based on Ontario hog exchange figures.
However, Kilmer said in an e-mail that calculation does not take into account added savings from using less feed, shorter time to market with more uniform pigs, less antibiotic use and reduced labour in treating pigs and cleaning scours from pens.
Draxxin from Pfizer Animal Health has been approved to treat respiratory disease in growing and finishing hogs.
It is an injectable antibiotic for pigs at risk of developing respiratory diseases because of their proximity to sick animals. It is also allowed in the treatment of hogs infected with a variety of disease-causing bacteria leading to respiratory conditions.
It is available exclusively through veterinarians and provides full treatment with one injection. It has an eight day withdrawal period in swine.
