Caring for Pigs: How Do We Minimize Painful Conditions

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Caring for Pigs How Do We Minimize Painful
Conditions?

• John Deen
• Leena Anil
• Anil Sukumaran

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Background

• A recognized responsibility of producers
• Pig well-being is increasing in profile
• There is an assumption that intensification leads
  to lower welfare
• Interrelated motives
• Metrics controversial
• Becoming a concern for marketing

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Aims of MPPA project

• raise levels of swine well-being
• define the relationship between welfare and
  performance, economics
• improve public perception of swine welfare in
  Minnesota
• integrate a welfare component in the Minnesota
  Quality Assurance program

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Methods

• create a swine specific welfare manual, using
  expert opinion from throughout the swine industry
  (Swine Care Handbook plus measures)
• measure the level of agreement with welfare aims
  on farm, comparing the level with performance and
  profitability
• implement new SOPs

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Potential benefits

• improved well-being for pigs
• improved performance and profitability
• improved public acceptance of swine farms
• greater demand for branded pork

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Potential constraints

• Limited scientific analysis
• Limited power
• Sometimes limited to difficult to measure
  outcomes
• Broad ethical boundaries, often conservative
• Some interventions should only affect outliers
• Inability to obtain return on some costs
• Lack of analysis of sins of omission

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Trend over time
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Seasonality
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Attrition
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Dead, Culls and lights
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Measurables

• Pigs
• Body conditions injuries, illnesses, mortality
  (slow growth?)
• Behavior stereotypies, aberrations from expected
• Process
• Prevention facilities, feed, management
• Treatment therapeutic, euthanasia

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Productivity and Economics

• Well-being can be related to animal productivity,
  less likely to be correlated with capital
  productivity
• Productivity better for differentiating welfare
  of pigs within farm than comparing farms
• Most economic models can be partial budgets
• Incremental margin on productivity improvements
  can be large
• Real expenses as well

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Priorities

• Pain
• - Type 1 concern
• Treatment
• Prevention
• Behaviors constarints and pathologies
• - Type 2 concern

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Pain is a function of

• Incidence X time X severity
• prevention - therapies - delphi survey
• Facilities - euthanasia - pain reduction

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Pain prevalence

• Lameness
• Downer animals
• Skin lesions
• Wounds
• Illnesses
• Mortality rates

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Treatment

• Euthanasia techniques and schedule
• Therapy frequency
• Inspection frequency
• Treatment facilities
• Therapeutic training

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Prevention

• Disease control measures
• Facility design
• Facility upkeep
• Handling techniques
• Transport methods

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Deviations from recommendations (farm specific)

• Pain
• Downer sows and mortality
• Sow wounds
• Nursery morbidity and mortality
• Treatment
• Euthanasia frequency
• Inspection and treatment schedule
• Prevention
• Disease control
• Gestation crate size and construction
• Slat quality
• Genotype

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Code contents approach

• Validate current good behavior
• vs
• Highlight deficiencies
• Emphasize visible deficiencies
• Emphasize procedures with little economic reward
• Must avoid other initiatives, e.g. antibiotic
  use, social preferences
• Keep it simple

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Proposed Code Measures

• Pain measures
• Less than .5 of sows unable to get up, or having
  one or more legs not weight-bearing
• Less than 3 of sows with skin wounds
• Nursery mortality rates less than 8, g/f less
  than 6
• Less than 2 lameness in nursery and g/f

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Proposed Code Measures

• Treatment
• Approved euthanasia techniques available at each
  stage
• Trained personnel available daily
• Daily inspection and treatment of pigs
• Regular veterinary consultation
• Comfortable hospital pens

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Prevention

• Biosecurity measures in place
• Penning in good repair
• Gestation crates 22 for large sows
• Methods to detect power outages in place
• surgeries 10 days of age with anesthesia
• Training methods for new employees in place

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Needs

• Intent
• Education
• Methods
• Resources
• Reinforcement
• Rewards