Benchmarking study itemizes antimicrobial use in pork production

Tuesday, May 10, 2016

by SUSAN MANN

Most hog farmers who participated in an Ontario Pork Industry Council survey on antibiotic use deliver the products in feed and mainly to finisher pigs, according to results released at the council’s annual meeting last month.

Lori Moser, who is transitioning out of her role as council managing director and is the new manger of Swine Health Ontario, says the survey “was part of a benchmarking study. Those producers also provided us with a full year’s worth of antimicrobial usage data.”

Moser adds, “that was like a pilot study. Now we will work with Ontario Pork and figure out how we will continue with the momentum.”

Antimicrobials are medicines, such as antibiotics, used to treat human and animal illnesses, according to an Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs online fact sheet. In the agricultural industry, they’re also used to improve production and growth.

However, there’s worldwide concern about the overuse of antimicrobials and many sectors in the agricultural industry are working on strategies for farmers to reduce their antimicrobial usage.

Moser says a meeting was held with all study participants, who recommended some next steps for the industry. One of those steps would be to expand the benchmarking project “so we can work towards improvements throughout the industry.”

Another step would be to establish some best management practices for producers on antimicrobial usage, she says.

Moser says the pork industry council isn’t sharing the actual numbers from the benchmarking survey yet. “It’s confidential and it’s their (the participants’) information and at this time we’re just not quite ready to do that.”

One of the findings of the survey was Ontario pork farmers’ antimicrobial usage is comparable to farmers’ usage of the products in other countries. Moser says that conclusion came from a comparison of Ontario farmers’ usage with global usage data.

Farmers in the survey said they mainly use antimicrobials for treatment and prevention. The main diseases they’re using antimicrobials for include: Ileitis, streptococcus suis, circovirus, porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus and mycoplasma hyopneumoniae.

Better herd health, alternatives to antimicrobials and better vaccine options were some of the factors survey participants gave for reducing on-farm antimicrobial usage.

A total of 36 farms, with a mean number of 440 sows, participated in the pork industry council survey. There were: 105 sites, 34,647 sows, 839,913 weanlings, 867,329 piglets and 688,831 market hogs. Also participating were 13 volunteer feed suppliers and four volunteer veterinary practices. BF