14/05/14: Danish Study Confirms Extra Piglet per Litter

A study¹ from Denmark has confirmed previous findings that vaccinating with Circovac® can improve the reproductive performance of sows by up to one piglet per litter. Presented at Merial’s Swine Forum in Budapest, the research also showed that a vaccination programme to control PCV2 can help to reduce antibiotic use.

Dr. Dorte Risum from the Porcus Swine Practice in Denmark presented the findings of a study on a 220 SPF sow farm which had Mycoplasma but no PRRS or AP.

Sleeping Piglets (Photo credit: Steve Sawyer)

In the autumn of 2009 problems were experienced with discharge post-farrowing, and there was an increase in the number of stillbirths from 1.4 to 2.0 per litter. The number of live births remained unchanged at 14.9 per litter.

Improved post-farrowing management and treatment with penicillin solved the discharge problem, but did not have any effect on number of live or stillbirths. In the same period, despite high growth rates, weaners became less uniform in size, and antimicrobials were being increasingly used to try to address these health issues.

Blood samples were negative for PRRS and Leptospirosis.PCV2 was suspected and it was decided to vaccinate all sows and gilts against PCV2 with CIRCOVAC, a two-shot vaccine approved for sow and gilt vaccination. Sows were vaccinated 6 and 3 weeks prior to farrowing. Gilts were vaccinated with CIRCOVAC 6 and 3 weeks prior to breeding.

After vaccination the live born rates rose from 14.9 to 15.8, and stillbirths reduced from 2.0 to 1.5 per litter. When piglets from vaccinated sows were weaned, they were more even in size and as a consequence the use of antimicrobials declined.

Findlay MacBean, Merial Animal Health’s Head of Large Animal Business, said: “The results from this study are consistent with similar studies carried out in the UK² which demonstrated that vaccinating sows against PCV2 can result in an extra piglet per sow per litter.”

1 Improved productivity & reduced antimicrobial use in a Danish sow herd using CIRCOVAC, Dorte Risum, Merial Swine Forum, Budapest April 2013

2 Effect of CIRCOVAC® vaccination of sows on their reproductive performance

John Hayden, Ricardo Neto, François Joisel Proceedings of the 21st IPVS Congress, Vancouver, Canada – July 18-21, 2010

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