TDK conference 2018

Porcine respiratory disease complex (PRDC) causes very large economic losses in the swine industry. In this study the technological level, the major production parameters, the vaccination protocols and the respiratory health status were compared on the surveyed pig farms. These factors are closely related to the PRDC.

We surveyed 72 large-scale pig farms between 2011 and 2016 in Hungary. We personally interviewed the farm managers and veterinarians by using the Respig Farm Audit ToolTM (MSD AH). Some farms were surveyed more than once, so altogether the study contains 111 surveys. The average number of sows was 1299 on the farms. The mean of weaning weight was 7.33 kg, that of slaughter weight 110.6 kg, and that of carcass 89.7 kg, respectively. The feed conversion ratio (FCR) was 1.81 kg/kg in the nursery and 3.1 kg/kg in the fattening units. The average daily gain (ADG) in the nursery was 387.5 g, while in the fattening unit, 752.5 g. The mortality rate was 4.0% in the nursery and 4.1% in the fattening period. The animal health cost amounted to 2.133 HUF/finisher (€7.11/finisher, €1=300 HUF).

Some major production parameters of the surveyed farms (e.g. ADG) were close to the to the international standards, but generally, it can be stated that Hungarian average production indices do not reach the international production level. However, a continuous improvement can be seen by comparing the present production parameters with the findings of the previous Hungarian surveys.

The laboratory tests showed that Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae was the most prevalent herd-level PRDC pathogen (86.4%), followed by Porcine circovirus type-2 (81.2%) and Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae (60.2%). The other PRDC agents were detected to a much lesser extent on the farms. The vaccination protocols were in line with prevalence of the pathogens. Most of the swine herds vaccinated against M. hyo. (77.5%) and PCV-2 (72.5%), but only 23.5% of them against APP, probably because of the higher vaccination cost.

Monitoring of the PRDC status and the regular checks of the vaccination protocols can result in a significant improvement in productivity on pig fattening farms. The increase in the vaccination costs can be compensated with the decreased medication costs and the better production.