Treating poor-doing pigs
Poor-doing pigs are not the same as the “tail-enders” in a pen that are healthy, but growing slower than their pen mates. They can be expected to represent up to two percent of the total pigs produced on the farm.
Special problems are associated with poor-doing pigs, Tim Blackwell told the Saskatchewan Pork Symposium.
- They are a reservoir of infection for other pigs on the farm.
- They take up space in finishing or nursery pens, reducing the overall productive square footage on the farm. Hospital pens produce the least number of pounds of pork per square foot of any pen on the farm.
- They have an extremely poor feed-to-gain ratio.
- They are an animal welfare concern.
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Poor-doers generally have a dull, long hair coat and have a large head in relation to their body. They are weak and move slowly.
Causes of poor performance include chronic pneumonia, abscesses due to fighting, arthritis and chronic diarrhea. Some pigs respond quickly to treatment; others do not.
Blackwell suggests using the “two-week rule.” If pigs have not significantly improved in condition within two weeks of first being noticed, they should be destroyed, shipped to market, or at least moved off the farm.
If poor-doers are to be destroyed, a post-mortem will help diagnose why they are poor-doers and how to improve herd treatment. Remember drug-withholding times prior to slaughter when you ship pigs. Poor-doers are often targeted for drug residue testing.
If you want to treat these animals for longer than two weeks, they should be moved to separate facilities away from the main herd. An off-site hospital pen, or an outdoor facility in summer may help these pigs recover.
- Manitoba Swine Update
Sheep shed fleece naturally
Welsh sheep breeder Iolo Owen of Anglesey, North Wales manages a flock of 3,000 ewes that shed their wool naturally.
Owen’s hybrid ewe is based on the Wiltshire Horn breed which has little or no fleece. Other breeds in his herd included the Welsh Mountain, Southdown and French Charolais.
The result is a polled, keen-foraging, medium-sized ewe weighing about 53 kilograms (117 pounds) and capable of averaging 1.75 percent lambing. The ewes can rear a 17 kg (37.5 lb.) lamb in 12 to 16 weeks.
“I believe that 50 percent of the cost of shepherding — shearing, dagging, crutching and dipping, and making sure animals were not caught up in hedges and fences — are linked to wool,” Owen said.
Owen said he exploited the Wiltshire Horn’s natural lack of wool (relative to other breeds). His hybrid sheep loses their winter coat naturally in April and May. The winter coat is about 35 millimetres (1.4 inches) long and gives protection against bad weather. It is shed naturally to leave a 15-mm (0.6 in.) summer coat.
Four elite flocks of 30 ewes each are used to produce foundation stock. These “easy care” sheep can be found on more than 200 U.K. farms. Owen believes the reduction in wool values will increase interest in the hybrid. He sold 300 of this year’s ewe lamb crop for $89.50 each before they were born.
- Farming News, British Consulate General
