Use or non-use of treatment therapies for respiratory disease in finishing pigs

Joining us for this episode of Feedstuffs in Focus is Dr. David Baumert, Senior Technical Services Veterinarian at Zoetis Pork, to discuss the reasons why producers sometimes choose not to treat pigs — usually heavier weight finishers — in need of swine respiratory disease (SRD) therapy and the implications of non-use from a performance, labor and economic standpoint. 

This episode of Feedstuffs in Focus has been brought to you by Zoetis Pork.

IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION: People with known hypersensitivity to penicillin or cephalosporins should avoid exposure to EXCENEL RTU EZ. Do not use in swine found to be hypersensitive. Withdraw 6 days prior to slaughter when injection site volumes are greater than 5 mL up to 15 mL per injection site and 4 days prior to slaughter when injection site volumes are less than or equal to 5 mL per injection site. See full Prescribing Information at Excenelpork.com/PI.

References

Pantoja L, Kuhn M, Farrand E, et al. Impact of a Husbandry Education Program on nursery pig mortality, productivity, and treatment cost. Journal of Swine Health and Production [serial online]. 2013;21 (4):188-194. Available from: CAB Abstracts, Ipswich, MA. Accessed May 1, 2018. 

Pineiro C, Morales J, Doncecchi P, et al. Individual Pig Care program improves productive performance and animal health in nursery-growing pigs. Journal of Swine Health and Production [serial online]. 2014;22 (6):296-299. Available from: CAB Abstracts, Ipswich, MA. Accessed August 1, 2018.

Bowersock, T. L., Meeuwse, D. M., Kausche, F. M., Lucas, M. J., Bryson, W. L. and Dame, K.J. Efficacy of ceftiofur crystalline free acid and ceftiofur hydrochloride administered intramuscularly in swine inoculated with Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae. Pharmacia Animal Health. 2001. 

Data on file, Study Document No. ZRD-PSC-004402, Zoetis Inc.

All trademarks are the property of Zoetis Services LLC or a related company or a licensor unless otherwise noted. © 2024 Zoetis Services LLC. All rights reserved. EXC-00084

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
Why do producers sometimes choose not to treat
pigs in need of swinerespiratory disease therapy?
There can be several reasons,but it's important when making
such a decision to consider thefull picture and what's best for
the pigs and overallprofitability of the farm
operation.
Welcome to Feedstuffs in Focus,our podcast taking a look at

(00:28):
the big issues affecting thelivestock, poultry, grain and
animal feed industries.
I'm your host, sarah Muirhead.
This episode is brought to youby Zoetis Pork.
Joining us today is Dr DavidBaumert, veterinarian with
Zoetis Pork Technical Services.
Is Dr David Baumert,veterinarian with Zoetis Pork
Technical Services.
Dr Baumert is going to discusswith us the reason why producers

(00:49):
sometimes choose not to treatpigs in need of swine
respiratory disease therapy andthe implications of non-use from
a performance, labor andeconomic standpoint.
Dr Baumert, before we get intothe nuts and bolts of our
discussion, why don't youclarify for us what our focus is
here today relative to theproducer or veterinarian's

(01:11):
decision not to treat finishingpigs for swine respiratory
disease?

Speaker 2 (01:15):
Well, certainly, sarah.
First of all, let's start withwhat we're not talking about
today, and we're not talkingabout the decision where
producers raise groups of pigsor populations under an
antibiotic-free or ABF-typeprogram.
In that case pigs certainly aretreated as needed, and then
those individual animals that goto market without the need for

(01:37):
any antibiotic therapy are thenmarketed under a premium program
, an ABF or an NAE-type ofprogram, under a premium program
, an ABF or an NAE type ofprogram.
What we are talking about todayis the situation where a
producer makes the decision,either consciously or
subconsciously, to not treatanimals within a population of
pigs Generally we're talkingabout finisher populations of

(01:59):
pigs when in reality the use ofsome sort of therapy actually
has an opportunity to improvethe animal welfare or the
productivity of that group ofpigs.

Speaker 1 (02:10):
Help us understand why producers might make the
decision not to provideantibiotic therapy.
You know, especially when we'retalking about the finisher pigs
.

Speaker 2 (02:20):
I think there's three scenarios where we can pick
cases where finisher pigs do notget treated, even though there
really is a potential to improvetheir performance, and those
three scenarios are, first ofall, where there's simply a
failure to identify the pigsthat are in need of therapy.
Second of all, there can belabor shortages within systems,

(02:43):
and that's common today and then, finally, misunderstandings
regarding the actual cost of thetreatment.
I think those are the threecases that would define most of
our issues where pigs don't gettreated Again, pigs don't get
identified, labor shortages andthen, finally, misunderstandings
of the cost of treatment.

Speaker 1 (03:03):
All right.
So let's talk about each ofthose a bit more, and let's
start with that failure toidentify pigs in need of
treatment.
How can producers overcome thatchallenge?

Speaker 2 (03:13):
pigs in need of treatment.
How can producers overcome thatchallenge?
Well, let's step back a minuteand within our finisher pig
populations there's twoconditions where pigs can
benefit from treatment generallyeither lameness issues or
respiratory disease.
And too often animals orpopulations of animals are not
recognized early enough in thestage of disease when clinical

(03:34):
signs are still very subtle.
Specifically, we're talkingabout respiratory disease.
Subtle signs might be caseswhere pigs are simply a little
bit lethargic or they might bebreathing a little bit faster
than their pen mates.
By the time these animals areoften recognized as truly being
ill, severely coughing or eventhumping.

(03:54):
Those individual animals mayactually be past the really
golden opportunity wheretreatment would have had a high
success rate.
Now, if we can train to havetraining or train producers to
recognize pigs when thoseindividuals are just a little
bit off, it would certainlyimprove the treatment success
rate in those groups of pigs andI think it would improve the

(04:15):
producer's desire to treat thosepigs when they see higher
success rates.
Zoetis does have an individualpig care program, often known
within the industry simply asthe ABC Pig Care Treatment
Training Program, and thisprogram will assist producers in
learning how to identify pigsearly in the course of disease

(04:37):
and, of course, earlierappropriate treatment will often
result in better post-treatmentoutcomes.

Speaker 1 (04:45):
What about labor?
How does that impact thedecision to treat or not to
treat?

Speaker 2 (04:50):
Labor on a farm, particularly skilled labor, is
unfortunately a very commonchallenge, but it does take
qualified caretakers in order tomonitor pigs on a daily basis
and, of course, to administertherapy when it's needed.
Appropriate labor staffing iscertainly critical for an
overall treatment plan in orderto be successful and in order to

(05:11):
motivate staff to treat pigswhen needed.
The labor that's needed totreat pigs within a population
unfortunately comes with a cost,and that cost is related to the
time that's required to do thetreatment process.
Any additional time that isrequired to administer treatment
products that are not promptlyready to use as bottled, for

(05:34):
example, if they requireextended shaking or mixing of
ingredients, all of thatadditional time can be
considered an additional cost oftreatment.

Speaker 1 (05:43):
From an economic standpoint, then, how should
producers be thinking about thecost of treatment versus not
treating?

Speaker 2 (05:51):
Well, we can divide the cost of treatment into a
couple of buckets.
The first is the easy part.
Cost of treatment could simplybe defined as the cost of the
product that we use to treat thepigs, for example, the cost of
six mils of XNL RTU EZ to treata 200-pound pig.
The cost of treatment can alsoinclude the cost of the labor,

(06:14):
attributed again to time spentwithin that population of pigs
administering the treatmentproducts.
As I mentioned before, anyadditional time that's required
to administer products becausethey're just not promptly ready
to be injected as they come outof the bottle increases time.
And so if these productsrequire extensive shaking, or

(06:35):
again, if products need to bemixed before they're
administered to pigs or theproduct is pulled into a syringe
, that additional time can beconsidered as an additional
treatment cost.
And then, finally, the othercost in regard to treatment is
the cost of performance lostwhen non-use is the situation.

Speaker 1 (06:56):
So how do performance outcomes impact this decision
and the economics?

Speaker 2 (07:01):
When the decision is made to not treat pigs with a
potentially helpful therapeuticdrug, it's often due to a
misunderstanding of what thetrue cost of non-use is in terms
of performance impact.
A product like XNL RTU-EZ islabeled for the control of four
major swine pathogens,specifically APP, Pasturella

(07:24):
multocida, Salmonella, cholerasuis and Strep suis.
In an APP challenge study trial, pigs that were treated with
X-Nile RTU-EZ had an 81%reduction in mortality and an
84% reduction in lung lesionscores when those treated pigs
were compared to theirnon-treated cohorts.
Now, while the exact cost ofnon-use in a finisher setting

(07:48):
certainly will be dependent onthe individual characteristics
of that farm or that productionsystem where the pigs are being
raised, any time that non-useresults in potentially missing
an opportunity to reducemortality by 81% or reducing
lung lesions by 84%, that lossof productivity and the effect
on animal welfare wouldintuitively be many times more

(08:11):
than the expense of simply usingan effective antibiotic in the
first place.

Speaker 1 (08:16):
So, as we look to wrap up this important
discussion, what are thosethings that you want swine
producers to really take awayfrom this?

Speaker 2 (08:25):
Well, a couple of short messages, first of all,
take away from this.
Well, a couple of shortmessages.
First of all, when thepotential reasons for non-use of
therapeutic treatment areactually examined, it becomes
pretty clear that non-use is notsustainable in modern pig
production.
Xnl RTU-EZ, an effective andpractical safety for
hydrochloride formulation, is aviable option when it comes for

(08:48):
control of swine respiratorydiseases, and it will certainly
help support a sustainable,animal welfare friendly pork
production, both from a laborand an economic perspective.
And then, finally, given thatthe lack of skilled labor is
often quoted as a cause fornon-use is often quoted as a

(09:11):
cause for non-use, xenel RTU-EZalso will provide producers with
an injectable therapy thatmixes very quickly and it helps
ensure that producers are notunderdosing or overdosing.

Speaker 1 (09:19):
Our thanks to Dr David Baumert, veterinarian with
Zoetis Pork Technical Services.
Some important safetyinformation People with known
hypersensitivity to penicillinor cephalosporins should avoid
exposure to XNL RTU-EZ.
Do not use enswine found to behypersensitive.
Withdraw six days prior toslaughter when injection site

(09:41):
volumes are greater than 5milliliters up to 15 milliliters
per injection site, and 4 daysprior to slaughter when
injection site volumes are lessthan or equal to 5 mL per
injection site.
See full prescribinginformation at xnlporkcom
backslash PI.
I'm Sarah Muirhead and you havebeen listening to Feedstuffs in

(10:04):
Focus.
If you would like to hear moreconversations about some of the
big issues affecting thelivestock, poultry grain and
animal feed industries,subscribe to this podcast on
your favorite podcast channel.
Until next time, have a greatday and thank you for listening.