Comparative studies of mortality, morbidity and growth rate in conventional and swine health service farms. III. Morbidity and fattening rate
Weibel, W.; Buhlmann, J.; Hani, H.
Schweizer Archiv für Tierheilkunde 125(12): 861-869
1983
ISSN/ISBN: 0036-7281 PMID: 6665545 Document Number: 208195
Lesions of lung, liver and heart at slaughter were evaluated in 3625 animals (88.2% of all finished pigs) in three batches from 8 conventional farms and 7 herds of the pig health service. Lesions recorded at slaughter were related to performance (average daily gain and efficiency of feed conversion for each batch). Pneumonia was observed in 10.7% of animals from farms of the pig health service and 44.8% from conventional farms. Enzootic pneumonia was diagnosed in 9.7% of animals from herds of the pig health service and 40.6% from conventional farms (only two batches free from enzootic pneumonia). Haemophilus pleuropneumonia was found in conventional farms (5.5% of animals) only. The incidence of pleurisy was higher in conventional farms (26.9%) than in herds of the pig health service (7.3%). Pleurisy was also more frequent (35.5%) in 8 batches where Haemophilus pleuropneumonia was prevalent than in the remaining batches from conventional farms (21.1%). Milk spots occurred in 40.2% of animals from herds of the pig health service and 34.5% from conventional farms. Average daily gain and efficiency of feed conversion were lower in batches where Haemophilus pleuropneumonia was prevalent (620 g and 43.4 MJ digestible energy) than in the remaining batches in conventional farms (669 g and 40.5 MJ digestible energy). Efficiency of feed conversion was also lower in 5 batches from herds of the pig health service where enzootic pneumonia was diagnosed (41.5 MJ digestible energy) than in remaining fattening periods (39.3 MJ digestible energy).