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Preventing Salmonella infection in pigs with offsite weaning

1998; Volume: 6; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

1537-209X

Jerome C. Nietfeld, Ingrid Feder, Ted T. Kramer, D A Schoneweis, M. M. Chengappa,

Animal Disease Management and Epidemiology

Summary Purpose: To evaluate a strategy to prevent Salmonella infection in pigs from a herd with an ongoing clinical problem with S.˚ choleraesuisby weaning pigs offsite. Methods: Fifty-six 10- to 16-day-old pigs were purchased from a herd that had an ongoing problem with S. choleraesuis, and were moved to an offsite facility. On the day the pigs were purchased (day 0), milk and rectal swab samples were collected from sows in the herd of origin. On days 1, 43, 83, and 109 of the study, rectal and oropharyngeal swabs were collected for Salmonella spp. cul- ture and sera were collected for serologic testing for Salmonella antibodies from all offsite pigs. To determine whether there was continuing on-farm transmission of Salmonella spp., fecal swabs for culture and sera for ELISA testing were collected from 15 age- matched pigs that remained on the farm of origin. These age- matched pigs were moved on day 61 of the study to an outdoor grow-finish lot, where they were raised to slaughter. Environmen- tal samples were collected from the outdoor growing-finishing pen (from bowl waterers and mud holes) for culture. Results: In the offsite pigs, no Salmonella spp. were isolated and there was no serological evidence of Salmonella exposure. On the farm, Salmonella spp. were isolated from rectal swabs from seven of the 15 (46.6%) onsite, age-matched pigs, from 11 (in- cluding one sample from which S. cholerasuis was isolated) of the 24 (45.9%) environmental samples, and from one of 24 (4.2%) rectal swabs from sows. Between days 61 and 99 of the study, mean anti-Salmonella titers for onsite pigs increased, indicating ongoing exposure to Salmonella spp. Implications: Offsite weaning at 10-16 days of age prevented Salmonella spp. infection in grow-finish pigs moved to a clean environment.