Page 14 - Australian Pork Newsapaper

Change management reduces antibiotic use in the farrowing house
FARROWING house mortality rate, diar- rhoea and antimicrobial usage were reduced by a program that involved all-in-all-out pig flow, batch disinfection with biofilm control, re- duced protein starter di- ets, appropriate stock- ing density and the use of an anti-clostridial probiotic both in-feed and sprayed onto sows’ udders in a milk Clostat ‘cultured’ preparation.
Udder spraying was done daily throughout lactation.
Prostaglandin far- rowing induction was stopped.
Cross fostering was minimized.
Strict attention was
paid to critical tempera- tures.
The program was im- plemented by consultant vet Peter McKenzie and Rick Carter from Kemin Industries.
Peter was faced with cases of Clostridial di- arrhoea on farms where Ceftiofur had been used.
Ceftiofur is one of the newer antibiotics, con- sidered of critical impor- tance to human use.
It’s not approved for use in pigs because of the risk of resistances build- ing up in pig pathogens and then that resistance being transferred to hu- man pathogens.
Sometimes veterinar- ians prescribe ceftiofur off label without work-
ing out what has really gone wrong on a farm to precipitate disease.
The problem is that in baby pigs this drug can wipe out the good bugs that help form the nor- mal bug ecosystem that, in turn, keeps the lid on the nasties.
Peter and Rick thought that they could help populate the baby pig gut with ‘good’ bugs, in this case Bacillus subtilis PB6 (Clostat, Kemin).
They thought it might help overcome the clostridial bacteria on the four Queensland farms that formed the basis of a study pre- sented at the first Aus- tralian Veterinary An-
timicrobial Stewardship conference late last year and recently published in the Australian Vet- erinary Journal.
The health and produc- tion changes were posi- tive across all four farms.
They were associated with cost and labour sav- ings.
Injectable ceftiofur use and in-feed antibiotic inclusions were dramati- cally reduced.
Pig health and produc- tion improved.
The authors observed that stopping pig deaths from clostridia provided the catalyst for increas- ing implementation of the wider program, be- cause of a lift in piggery staff morale.
They were helped by better diagnostic tests that allowed for in- creased recognition of clostridial disease in young pigs.
It’s anybody’s guess as to whether it was the lift in management stand- ards, or the Clostat, or the combination that did the trick.
The fact remains that they got a good result.
Peter McKenzie said, “Provided there is a good relationship between a committed, competent veterinarian, and a com- mitted, competent man- ager, change manage- ment programs can be successfully implement- ed on farms over 6-12 months.”
Department of Agriculture’s assessment of imported pig meat vulnerability identifies key shortfalls
COMMENCING Oc- tober 2018, the Depart- ment of Agriculture has examined the potential vulnerabilities associ- ated with pig meat im- ports to ensure current controls meet industry and community expecta- tions.
In the wake of our im- ported pig meat vulner- ability assessment, we identified a number of areas needing attention to ensure pig meat imports meet Australia’s strict bio- security laws.
Under current policy, specific import condi- tions apply for the fol- lowing commodities and countries:
• Uncooked pig meat – Belgium (following an outbreak of African swine fever in Belgium, pig meat and goods con- taining, or potentially contaminated with pig material sourced from Belgium, no longer meet current Australian im- port requirements and the department has stopped imports of Belgian origin pig meat), Canada, Den- mark, Finland, Great Brit- ain (England, Scotland, and Wales), Republic of Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, Sweden and the United States of America.
• Cooked (un-retorted) – Canada, Denmark, Great Britain (England, Scot- land and Wales), New Zealand, Sweden and the United States of America.
• Cured ham – Italy and Spain.
Competent overseas au- thorities—all members of the World Organisation for Animal Health —cer- tify the biosecurity health of imported pig meat.
We audit these authori- ties regularly and impose penalties for non-compli- ance or failure to report disease outbreaks to the OIE.
The imported pig meat vulnerability assessment highlighted some areas for improvement in the auditing of these authori- ties, which we have now addressed.
We monitor the compli- ance of importers through documentation, container inspections and scrutiny of any sudden or unusual changes of behaviour.
We found pig meat im- porters are largely com- pliant, noting that non- compliant importers face administrative sanctions or civil or criminal pros- ecution actions for severe breaches.
We have investigated a number of pig meat im- porters since the introduc- tion of the Biosecurity Act 2015.
Once in Australia, the movement of pig meat be- tween borders and proces- sors is subject to admin- istrative action and regu- lation—again, we found the industry to be largely compliant.
For non-compliant op- erators, we are able to impose severe adminis- trative and civil penalties.
Processing of pig meat produces biosecurity waste that requires specif- ic treatment and handling. The assessment found training standardisation of biosecurity waste op- erators would improve the processing. We are currently addressing this shortfall.
We continue to maintain an active watching brief on diseases of biosecurity concern, partly by moni- toring the status of over- seas competent authorities and international produc- ers and suppliers.
In Australia, we actively monitor and audit the im- porters, brokers and Ap- proved Arrangements in- volved in the facilitation of the imported pig meat trade.
For further information about the laws surround- ing the importation of pig meat into Australia, please contact the Com- pliance, Analysis and Testing Team at CAT@ agriculture.gov.au
To confidentially re- port a suspected breach of Australian biosecurity, meat or food inspection laws, contact Redline on 1800 803 006.
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Page 14 – Australian Pork Newspaper, September 2019
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