Farmer Focus: Plans change as disease strikes herd

Both our breeding herds have become infected with swine dysentery, which is caused by the bacteria Brachyspira hyodysenteriae in the large intestine.

Swine dysentery (SD) is characterised by diarrhoea in youngstock, which can contain blood and mucus. We saw looseness, and then slow growth rates and weight loss.

We first thought, rather optimistically, this was a hiccup with diets, possibly a poorly timed changeover or a batch of food that was in poor condition after storage.

See also: Why lung scoring could improve pig health and welfare

About the author

Rob McGregor

LSB Pigs runs 1,550 sows in two outdoor herds to produce weaners under a contract agreement. Rob manages the operation which fits into a barley and sugar beet rotation on rented land near Fakenham, Norfolk.

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Unfortunately, other farms that had received weaners from us also started reporting similar symptoms at the same time.

The vet team carried out testing by collecting and submitting faeces samples and, not surprisingly, a positive SD diagnosis came back. This was the last thing we needed right now.

We’ve just moved the herd onto the best prepared and constructed site we’ve ever achieved and have slowly climbed up the performance table since our porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome outbreak was brought under control just over a year ago.

So, what happens next? Well, the decision has been made to cull the herds out, with sows leaving the farms as each of their 11 batches are weaned.

This isn’t going to start right away – our serving of sows will stop in December.

BQP had previously discussed the routine repopulation of our two units with us.

We last did this 14 years ago, giving us the opportunity to improve the overall health status of the animals, while also getting a boost in genetic merit via the new breeding stock.

The big difference with the routine plan and the one now forced upon us is an extension in the period out of production.

It would have only been a few weeks between the last of the old herd leaving and the new in-pig gilts arriving.

Now we have SD, it will be a much more complicated and costly three-month break.

Getting through this issue is going to dominate the next year of my life.

I’m going to be returning to the subject in my Farmer Focus articles for certain as things progress.

I also promise you I will find an opportunity to tell all about my unexpected and fascinating excursion into the world of global-hit TV.