Page 11 - Australian Pork Newspaper

ASF tightens its grip in six Asian countries
OFFICIAL statistics from the Food and Ag- riculture Organization show you can now find African swine fever in Cambodia, China, Laos, Mongolia, North Korea and Vietnam – and ex- perts predict its relent- less march will continue.
In Vietnam alone, of- ficials report 2.8 million pigs have been culled from the national herd due to ASF.
The disease has spread to nearly every province.
In a country of 95 mil- lion people where pork makes up 75 percent of total meat consumption, this reality spells trouble.
Meanwhile in China, the picture does not look too much better despite the Chinese Government’s ongoing efforts and that by large private produc- ers.
The nation’s swine herd shrank 21 percent on the year in April to a level not seen since the early 1990s, according to agri- culture ministry data.
Dutch lender Rabobank forecasts the herd will de- cline between 20 and 30
percent in 2019 from the previous year when China recorded a herd of 428 million head.
The disease’s toll on China’s swine herd con- tinues to reach epic pro- portions, with recent es- timates pegging current and future losses related to ASF at more than 200 million pigs.
With the losses farmers have had to face, some are reluctant to begin repopu- lation, as has been en- couraged by the Chinese Government, for fear they could lose their entire herd to the disease again.
This said, some com- mercial herds are looking at expansion, with New Hope Liuhe, a Chinese integrator, announcing its plans to add 1.6 million head to its herd across three provinces.
Investigation into the spread of the disease con- cluded vehicles and work- ers are the most common way ASF spreads.
Feeding swill and trans- porting live pigs or pork with ASF contamination are also key methods of ASF transmission.
ASF situation in Asia (August 2018 to date). Image: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
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GRAIN & PROTEIN
European research – more antibiotics are not better for pig production
☛ from P10
last year by Dutch veterinarian Dr Merel Postma showed higher level antimicrobial use in sows was associated with higher antimicro- bial usage from birth until slaughter.
A shorter farrow- ing turnaround and a younger weaning age were also associated with a higher antimi- crobial usage from birth until slaughter.
This is probably a re- flection of misplaced diligence in the care of sows and litters.
Those farms that vaccinated more also used more antimicro- bials.
This reflects the un- derlying health status of the herds but could also be linked to the nature of the veteri- nary advice and the at- titude of conscientious staff not to leave any stone unturned.
It is a real dilemma.
Excessive, unneces- sary treatments are not helpful and lead di- rectly to antimicrobial resistance.
The trick is to get the balance right but first the animals need to be raised in an environ- ment and fed in a way that leaves them fit and healthy to start and able to mount a proper im- mune response when required against the
micro-organisms pre- sent in a herd.
Better external bio- security is related to lower antimicrobial usage from birth until slaughter.
This may be due to those herds being of higher health status but could also have been due to better fo- cused management.
Dr Postma concluded management practices such as weaning age and biosecurity meas- ures may be important factors indirectly im- pacting antimicrobial usage.
The producers using lower levels of anti- microbial medications were also those with a higher internal bio- security status.
Basically, they kept the farms cleaner and deployed measures to reduce the internal spread of disease.
These herds were in areas where there were fewer pig farms, hence the opportunity for dis- ease to spread between farms was reduced.
Antimicrobial use was lower on the farms that effectively controlled scours in baby pigs.
Dr Postma also found, as could be unexpected, the lower the level of respiratory disease, the lower the level of antimicrobial use.
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Australian Pork Newspaper, July 2019 – Page 11