It’s one of the most devastating and economically damaging pig diseases in the world: Porcine circovirus associated disease (PCVAD). It can strike early or appear in a late form. And once it strikes, the consequences are never good.
Building on the success of previous Swine Expert Forum meetings, again 60 key stakeholders from science, retailers, slaughter houses, producers and the veterinary field from all over the world came together to exchange their knowledge, expertise and experience to tackle a burning issue for everyone involved in swine production. As the global market leader in pig vaccines Boehringer Ingelheim each year is providing a unique platform to foster exchange and share scientific information. In a workshop important trends in global pig production and what these mean for the role of the pig food chain for sustainable food production are being discussed.
We live a world which is undergoing significant change. Never in the history of life on the planet has there been more demand for the transformation of the Earth’s scarce raw materials into consumer goods for people around the globe. The world is being reorganized to facilitate the globalization of both demand and production, so the desires of people next door and in the farthest reaches of the planet can be communicated in real time to the millions of production and distribution chains around the world standing ready to fulfill them. At the same time, those very production processes are being challenged with the problem of how to satisfy these inexhaustible wants utilizing a finite set of scarce global resources.
In hyperprolific sows with the potential to produce large litters, gestation length will typically last for 3 months, 3 weeks and 3 to 5 days. The more foetuses present, the less room there is for adhesion of the placenta of each individual pig to the uterine wall. To facilitate maximal embryonic development, it is important that the sow is optimally nourished prior to insemination. Also it is important to recognise and minimise stress factors such as fluctuations in environmental temperature, social stress such as fighting and exposure to toxins and infections e.g. PRRS. In hyperprolific sows particularly, these factors have significant negative impact on the forthcoming gestation.
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