First out to ban feed additives in 1986. Veterinary challenges within Swedish pig production : part II. Intestinal and miscellaneous diseases

Abstract

The Swedish pig industry today comprises 160,000 sows and rears 3.25 million pigs to market weight. Being surrounded by water and employing a restricted import of animals, the health status is favourable. A ban of so called growth promoters (i.e. a routine add of low dose antibiotics to the feed) was achieved in 1986. Use of antibiotics in therapeutic doses to diseased animals has never been prohibited, but large scale medications are preceded by a proper diagnosis and a written disease preventing strategy including a last date for the in-feed medication. A doubling in incidence of post-weaning diarrhoeas and severe problems with Swine Dysentery followed the ban. Also other diseases were at hand and the mean age at 25 kg body weight was increased by one week at a national level. Obviously, disease preventing measures were mandatory. Today the main part of pig production takes place in age-segregated systems from birth to slaughter, and the productivity is well above that prior to 1986. The antibiotics used in veterinary medicine have decreased by 60% since the ban. The impact of disease has decreased and antimicrobial resistance among microbes is uncommon. This manuscript focuses on efforts made to prevent intestinal and miscellaneous diseases.

Published in

Pig Journal
2009, volume: 62, pages: 52-60

SLU Authors

• Wallgren, Per

  • National Veterinary Institute (SVA)

UKÄ Subject classification

Animal and Dairy Science

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/80047