Biosecurity hazards in pig transport

21 August 2023

3 minute learn

Derald Holtkamp, DVM, Iowa State College, stated that outbreaks
in develop/end herds can have important impacts economically and function a
supply of virus for breeding herds. One occasion that has the potential to
introduce viruses into rising pigs is the transport of pigs to market.

In america, a bunch of pigs is often transported to
market over a number of weeks, creating the chance for pigs remaining at
the farm to grow to be contaminated after the primary masses are faraway from the barn.
The pigs remaining within the group are then topic to manufacturing losses and
grow to be a possible supply of virus for different swine farms, Holtkamp stated throughout
the 2022 Leman Convention.

Earlier analysis has demonstrated that livestock trailers
are continuously contaminated after transporting pigs to swine slaughter crops,
he stated. Washing and decontaminating trailers between masses can mitigate the
contamination when it happens, however not all trailers are washed between
each load of market pigs, and when trailers are washed, mitigation is just not
assured, he added.

Subsequently, when livestock trailers return from a swine slaughter
plant and enter rising pig websites to load market pigs, they might stay
contaminated with infectious swine pathogens. For pigs remaining within the barn to
grow to be contaminated throughout loading, viral contamination have to be transferred
from the livestock trailer to the pigs, he defined.

Staged loading

Staged
loading could scale back the frequency of the switch of pathogens; nevertheless, it
has not been studied, he stated. Staged loading includes creating an space between
two strains of separation the place your entire load or small teams of pigs will be
“staged” earlier than loading, Holtkamp stated.

He
famous that the loadout alleyway could also be used because the staging space the place the
first line of separation is positioned the place the trailer contacts the
chute, and the second line is the place the loadout alleyway and the barn alleyway
intersect.

Holtkamp
and colleagues at Iowa State carried out a examine to guage the effectiveness of
a staged loading process when loading market pigs for decreasing
the switch of contaminants from livestock trailers to the barn.

A
managed trial in contrast a standard loading process to a staged loading
process, with 10 replicates per loading process, he stated.

In
the staged loading process, one member from the loadout crew was stationed in
the loadout alleyway between two strains of separation, Holtkamp stated.

Two-hundred
sixteen grams of dry fluorescent powder (Glo Germ, Glo Germ Firm, Moab,
UT) was combined with roughly 0.5 liters of obstetrical (OB) lube and 0.25
kg of dry wooden shavings in a big zip-lock plastic bag and unfold evenly
on the livestock trailer ground, simply contained in the roll-up door that opens to
the chute, Holtkamp defined.

Every
loadout was noticed, and when accomplished, Glo Germ contamination was evaluated
utilizing a 120 x 55 cm² grid that was divided into 264 5 x 5 cm squares at
eight totally different measuring factors; one within the chute, two within the loadout
alleyway, and 5 within the heart alleyway of the barn, he stated.

Holtkamp
famous that beneath the situations of the examine, the
staged loading process diminished the switch of Glo Germ from the
livestock trailer to the barn. 4 out of the 5 measuring factors within the
heart alleyway of the barn had a stage of contamination that measured
considerably decrease (p<0.05) for the staged loading protocol in comparison with the
typical loading protocol, he concluded.