33 Pork News & Views Pork News & Views Better Pork | October 2024 Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Agribusiness Unwillingness to rise to its feet or walk. Unwillingness to eat or drink. Vocalization when prodded to rise or move. No response when touched or prodded. Reluctance to put a leg down or bear weight. Trembling. Open mouth and/or fast breat- hing. Arched back or abdomen tucked up. Head down, drooping ears and uncurled tail. Standing separate from the group or not following the group. The cause of pain and discomfort should be identified and treated as early as possible. Pain medications can be beneficial for an animal’s recovery and have been shown to decrease healing time and increase appetite. Some medications have the added benefit of reducing inflammation and fever. If the medication given does not appear to have reduced discomfort, ask your veterinarian to suggest alternative options. Hospital Pens Once an animal is found to be compromised, it may be beneficial to separate them into a designated “hospital pen” or other area that allows closer observation and treatment. Forms of accommodation that may be included in the hospital pen to promote recovery include: Dry, deep straw bedding over a non-slip, insulated concrete floor. Draught free ventilation. Supplemental heat sources. A kenneled area available. An individual feeder, hand filled twice daily (there should never be an excess of food in the fee- ders, to allow in-feed medication if required). A bowl drinker 30cm above the floor for pigs 20kg or greater (should be filled from a separate header tank to allow medication to be added in water if required). Easy entry and exit points that do not require the animal to be lifted. Individual tags and treatment of all pigs in the hospital pen. Pigs in the hospital pen may require a companion, and hospital pens should be fit to hold up to 10 pigs at a time. Placement of a Hospital Pen Initially, it may seem best to place a hospital pen near the main entrance. While this position ensures the pen is being observed first and will be checked twice every time a stock person enters the room (and allows easy removal of deadstock when required), it is not the best placement for the health of all pigs in the room. Any pathogen affecting the compromised pigs is more likely to spread to other pigs (either indirectly by air or directly by the stockperson). The better placement of a hospital pen is further from the door, near exhaust fans. This decreases the risk of pathogen spread as air is transferred straight out of the building after the hospital pen, and all healthy animals are examined before the stock person has been near the hospital pen. Installation of a chute in the wall near the hospital pen allows deadstock to still be removed easily when required. Transport Considerations Any animals that have had treatments administered must be held for the required withdrawal period before they can be sent to processing. When shipping animals to be processed, only healthy animals that are able to withstand the journey can be transported. It is unacceptable and illegal to load, or cause to load, any animal that is sick, injured, or would otherwise suffer unduly due to transport. This includes non-ambulatory animals. For loading and transport considerations, see Appendix L of the NFACC’s Code of Practice for the Care and Handling of Pigs – “Should this Pig be Loaded?” Decision Tree, at https://www.nfacc.ca/codes-of-practice/pig-code#appendixl For information on common health conditions requiring additional care or transport restrictions, refer to the Ontario Farm Animal Council’s (OFAC) guide on Caring for Compromised Pigs, at https://www. farmfoodcareon.org/wp-content/ uploads/2016/04/CaringCompromisedPigs.pdf Resources OFAC: Caring for Compromised Pigs. June 2010. https://www. farmfoodcareon.org/wp-content/ uploads/2016/04/CaringCompromisedPigs.pdf NFACC: Code of Practice for the Care and Handling of Pigs. 2014. https://www.nfacc.ca/codes-of-practice/pig-code Carr, J. Carr Consulting, Melbourne Australia: “Special needs pens for full value pigs”. 2016. Shakespeare Swine Seminar, Shakespeare, ON. Also see: https://www.carrsconsulting.com/thepig/health-farm/ productionmgt/biosecurity/Biosecurity%20manual.pdf Hailey Lewke, OMAFA Summer Livestock Assistant
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