Pigs are raised commercially through various production methods including pasture and confinement units, with sows averaging 2 litters per year of around 10 piglets each. Proper nutrition, housing, disease prevention including vaccinations, and management from birth through market weight around 250 pounds are required for optimal health and productivity of the swine herd. Common diseases include respiratory illnesses, diarrhea in young pigs, reproductive issues, and infections requiring vaccination and sanitation to control spread.

1. Pigs
porcine

2. Terminology
• Sow- adult female having had one or more
litters
• Gilt- female not having reached sexual
maturity or has not had a litter
• Boar- intact adult male
• Pig- any swine other than sow, gilt, boar
• Barrow- neutered adult male
• Farrow- to give birth

3. Production Management
• Pasture
- Fewer animals per acre
- Decreased incidence of respiratory disease,
parasitism
- Alternate land use when hog market is poor

4. • Confinement units
- Environment impact
- Animal welfare issues
- Management intensive
- Increased production, increased investment
- All in/ all out management

5. Production information
• Sows average 2 litters per year
• Litter size average 9-10 piglets
• Average weaned per litter, 8
• Highest death losses in first 3-4 days of life
• Weaned at 3-4 weeks, 10-15 lbs
• Nursery to 10 weeks of age, 50 lbs
• Finishes at 250 lb market weight

6. Estrus in swine
• Polyestrus all year
• Estrus detection
- Lumbar pressure
- Boar scent

7. Behavior
• Aggressive behavior has serious economic and
physical consequences
• Adult boars will circle and threaten, fighting
sideways, pushing and slashing with tusks
• Separate boars with solid plywood
• Do not put new animal in established group,
they will attack and my kill
• Lactating sows will attack if perceive baby is
hurt

8. Hog Breeds
• Yorkshire
- white, ears up, most common
• Duroc
- red, floppy ear, second most common
• Landrace
- white, bigger floppy ears, long bacon body
• Chester white
- white, floppy ears, not as long as landrace
• Hampshire
- Black pig with white band around belly, similar to belted
Galloway cattle

9. Market Stock
• Birth to feeder- 40 lbs
• Feeder to finisher – 40-200 lbs
• Birth to slaughter – 250 lbs

10. Environmental temp
• Newborn 90-95
• Weaning 80-85
• Post weaning 70
• Adult 50-60
• Mature sow/pigs 50-55
Farrowing pen- one space with two
temperatures by a warming light for piglets

11. Nutrition
• Pigs have the same GI tracts as humans,
monogastric
• Usually utilize soy for protein and corn for
energy in hog diets

12. Porcine Stress Syndrome
• Pigs are very sensitive to stress
• Trucking, environmental change, management
• People that treat pigs nicely are rewarded
with increased production

13. Breeding Sow
• Bred at 6-7 months, 200 lbs
• Want 14 teats per sow
• Males bred at 5-6 months, 200 lbs
• Back fat and loin eye measured on live animals
with ultrasound
• 1 male/20 females
• 8-15 gilts per pen
• Artificial insemination regularly used
• Progesterone for estrus synchronization

14. Newborns
• Must have iron as milk is deficient, indoor do
not have access to iron in soild
• Inject iron in neck or feed sod
• Castrate males at 2 weeks
• Intact males stink and meat tastes funny, wait
6 months after castration before slaughter

15. Housing
• Water nipples place so pigs reach up slightly to
drink
• 1 nipple/10 pigs, minimum 2 nipples per pen
• Monitor environment at floor level
• Will climb vertical slats
• Chutes and docks should have solid walls
• Humidity 50-60%
• Ventilate from young to old
• Remove tails to prevent them from being chewed
off

16. Swine Viral Diseases
• Swine influenza
- Highly contagious, whole herd in 1-3 days
- Fever, anorexia, coughing, barking sound,
mortality 1-4%, morbidity 100%
- Treatment: nursing care
- Rare but can be zoonotic, affected animals
cannot appear at pubic functions

17. • Transmissible Gastroenteritis ( TGE)
- Affects baby pigs less than 10 days of age
- Symptoms: vomiting, diarrhea, dehydration, death
- Morbidity and mortality 100%
- Prepatent period 24-48 hours
- DX- virus isolation from baby pigs intestine at onset of
diarrhea
- Tx of little value
- Prevention: vaccinate during gestation, feed pregnant
sows macerated intestines of baby pigs that have dies
of TGE

18. • Parvovirus
- SMEDI: stillbirths, mummified fetuses, embryonic
deaths, infertility
- Trans: oral, consumption of viremic fecal material
- Tx: none
- Prevention
a. Vaccinate sows pre-breeding
b. Allow gilts/replacement sows to comingle with
stock or access to stock feces prior to breeding

19. • Pseudorabies ( Aujesky’s disease/mad itch)
- Affects pigs ( cattle, dogs)
- Morbidity and mortality: suckling pigs 100%,
mature pigs asymptomatic infection and
spontaneous recovery
- Trans: direct contact with contaminated feces
and water
- Prepatent period: 2-7 days

20. • Pseudorabies signs
• Suckling pigs
- Fever 107, incoordination, recumbency, paddling
- Convulsions, death within 12 hours of onset of
symptoms
• Feeder pigs
- Mortality < 5%, fever, posterior incoordination,
weakness
• Pregnant sows abort

21. • Pseudorabies cont
• Diagnosis: serology, virus isolation, fluorescent
antibody
• Tx: hyperimmune serum administered to baby
pigs in presence of outbreak
• Prev: strict sanitation, isolation, all in all out
• REPORTABLE DISEASE

22. Bacterial Diseases of Swine
• Atrophic Rhinitis
• Infectious agents: Bordatella bronchiseptica and
Pasteurella multocida
• Symptoms
- Atrophy of turbinate bones
- Deviation of snout
- Increased susceptibility to other respiratory
diseases
- Decreased rate of gain
- Carcass devalued at slaughter

23. • Atrophic rhinitis cont
• Trans: aerosol and direct nose to nose, carrier
sows infect piglets, piglets infect other piglets
• Prevention
- Vaccinate prior to clinical disease
- Prevalence of organisms in herds 25-50%
- NOTE: vacc does not eliminate organisms from
herd but prevents signs

24. • Colibacillosis
• Infectious agent: E.coli enterotoxin producing
• Symptoms: related to age of pig, 1-4 days of age
mortality 70%
• Prepatent: 12-24 hours
• Litters from gilts more likely to be affected
• Dx: fecal culture
• Litmus test
- ph> 8 E. coli, ph<7 viral or protozoal

25. • Colibacillosis con’t
• Tx: antibiotics, fluid replacement, nutrition
• Prevention
- Commercial vaccine, autogenous bacterin
- Milk culture fed to sows during gestation
- Sanitation, good management, minimize
stress

26. • Clostridial Enteritis ( hemorrhagic enteritis,
bloody scours)
• Infectious agent: Clostridium perfringens Type C
• Affected: baby pigs <7 days old
• Symptoms: bloody diarrhea, dehydration, death
• Tx: none, symptoms due to toxin
• Prevention: vaccinate sows/gilts during gestation,
administer Type D antitoxin to baby pigs at birth

27. • Erysipelas
• Infectious agent: Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae, is
ubiquitous in environment, cultured from 50% of
normal swine
• Symptoms:
Acute
- Fever > 108, abortions, stillbirths, mummified
fetuses
- Diamond shaped skin lesions
- Sudden death

28. • Erysipelas cont
Subacute/chronic
- Inappetance, infertility, arthritis, heart valve
damage, endocarditis
Prevention
- Vaccination
- Good management practices, sanitation,
deworming, nutrition, eliminate other co-existing
diseases in herd, minimize stress
ZOONOTIC

29. • Leptospirosis
• Symptoms: abortions, stillbirths, birth of
weak, non-viable pigs
• NOTE: permanent carrier state exists.
Organisms persist in kidneys and or
reproductive tract, intermittently shed in urine
or repro tract secretions and discharge
• Prevention- vaccinate
ZOONOTIC

30. Disease Rules of Thumb
• If the disease manifests during pregnancy (
abortions, stillbirths, mummified fetuses,
weak pigs at term), vaccinate prior to breeding
• If the disease manifests post farrowing, ( in
baby pigs) vaccinate during pregnancy

31. Miscellaneous Diseases/conditions
• Mastitis/Metritis/Agalactica
• Affected: sows 12-48 hours post farrowing
• Symptoms: fever, depression, anorexia, lack of
interest in baby pigs, mastitis
• Duration: 2-4 days
• Mortality
- Sows < 2%
- Baby pigs >80% due to starvation and crushing
• Tx: antibiotics, oxytocin, transfer baby pigs to
another clinically normal sows

32. • Porcine Stress Syndrome ( malignant
hyperthermia)
• Heritable disease of Ca metabolism in heavilty
muscled breeds
• Stress ( handling, processing, transportation)
not necessarily related to high env. Temps and
halothane anesthesia result in elevation of
core temp

33. • Porcine stess syndrome cont
• Symptoms:
- Muscle tremors, twitching, dyspnea, cyanosis
- Muscle rigidity, death within 15-20 minutes
- Post mortem pale, soft, exudative meat, (PSE)
carcass devalued
• Prev/control: genetic testing for recessive
gene

34. • Iron deficiency
• Disease of confinement- baby pigs on dirt
have access to iron in soil
• Routine processing of baby pigs include:
- Nipping teeth, notching ears, docking tails, iron
injection, nose rings ( installed in pasture raised
hogs to prevent rooting/destructive behavior)

35. Historical diseases
1. Swine pox
- virus, carried by lice, skin lesions, immune by
recovery
2. Parakeratosis
- Deficiency in Zn or excess Ca, 6-16 weeks, skin
lesions, correct diet to control
3. Greasy pig disease
- Exudative epidermitis, sick pigs with abnormally
thickened and exudative skin, Staph. Hyicus,
recovery leads to immunity

36. Preventative Health Program
• Prebreeding recommendations for Boars
- Purchase at least 60 days before breeding
- Quarantine at least 30 days, then allow fence
contact with sows/gilts for 30 days
- Immunize for leptospirosis and erysipelas
- Treat for internal and external parasites

37. • Prebreeding for sows and gilts
- Immunize for leptospirosis, porcine parvovirus
and psuedorabies 2-4 weeks prebreeding
- Flush gilts by increasing energy in diet to
increase ovulation for breeding
- Treat for internal and external parasites

38. • Prefarrowing for sows and gilts
- Limit feed to 4 lb per head to avoid obesity
- Immunize for colibacillosis, atrophic rhinitis,
erysipelas, TGE, porcine rotavirus and
Clostridium perfringens type D
- Treat for internal and external parasites with
approved products
• Farrowing- gradually increase feed ( 1lb of
feed for every pig nursed)

39. General Recommendations for piglets
• Birth
- Clip needle teeth, dock tails, ear notch, inject
iron dextran
• One week
- Immunize for TGE, rotavirus, atrophic rhinitis
• Two weeks
- castrate

40. Piglets con’t
• 4-5 weeks
- weaning, immunize for atrophic rhinitis,
erysipelas, Actinobacillosis infection
• 6-8 weeks
- Treat for internal and external parasites
• > 8 weeks
- Repeated treatments for external parasites