Animal welfare is becoming an extremely important consideration in pig rearing. The safety of vaccines is an important factor in this. Stressful treatments have negative impact on weight gain. Careful observation is essential and can make all the difference:
While the advice below is generally applicable there may be exceptions, particularly for vaccines that are not delivered intramuscularly.
Avoid vaccination during the first 10 days of life*: Energy-intake may be impaired because pigs that are vaccinated need more time before they resume sucking the sow again.
Mycoplasmal infections (i.e. M.hyo) in piglets occurs typically at an age of 6-8 weeks after passive (maternal) immunity wanes.
Early infections with M.hyo are a clear indication of a poor and unstable immunity in the sow herd leading to the production of poor quality colostrum
Injecting, what’s the theory?
Most vaccinations in piglets are administered intramuscularly in the neck, behind the ear.
Sow herd vaccination, i.e. against influenza and other viruses that can be transferred from the sow’s blood stream through the uterine blood supply thereby breaking through the uterine barrier: PRRS-virus, Circovirus, Parvovirus
Good body condition and fitness of the sow
US - Many of the key lessons gained from area regional control (ARC) programme targeted at PRRS virus over the last six years are now being used to help producers manage, monitor and share information on other swine diseases, including porcine epidemic diarrhoea (PED) and influenza, says Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica Inc. (BIVI).
1. Colostrum phase
On average sows produce about 5 litres of colostum, where every piglet needs 250 ml each
Colostrum is released within 15 hours of the birth-process starting
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