ASF, airbags and AveSui in Pig Progress 7

It doesn’t often happen that we surprise our readers with a 6-page feature, but the visit to Cherkizovo in Russia had so many interesting angles to cover that we happily allocated the space. How about a close encounter inside a brand new successful Russian pig farm? And how about learning what Cherkizovo took away from African Swine Fever (ASF) on their own facilities? All can be accessed as from pages 20-25.

What to do if ASF hits a farm?

Another major ingredient in this edition is a very detailed approach what to do when ASF does hit a professional farm? Spanish veterinarian Rafael Pedrazuela, DVM and Gustavo Lopez of the University of Minnesota, USA, take readers through every step on the road to eradication on pages 14-17.

AveSui and EuroTier in Paraná, Brazil

For the first time, Latin American trade show AveSui teamed up with EuroTier this year. The event in Medianeira, Paraná, Brazil attracted 16,000 visitors including a few on behalf of Pig Progress. The 16,000 signified a 40% increase in comparison to the 2018 edition. We interviewed Humerto Marques on behalf of the show organiser Gessulli and look back to the 2019 edition, pages 30-31.

And while we were at AveSui, Pig Progress also spoke to Prof Rony Antonio Ferreira, attached to the University of Lavras, Mato Grosso, Brazil. He explained how infrared cameras can be used to identify feeding patterns in pigs. Page 28

Role of the bile explored

The role of bile is not a topic that appears quite often in Pig Progress but in an interesting contribution by Dr Sven Keller of Novus, it is neatly explained what role bile can have – and what role it plays in pigs in the ‘copper recycling pathway’, pages 6-8.

What can fermentation do for sows?

And now we are talking about nutrition, there has been some interesting research going on in Germany at the effect of fermentation in sow feed. To give a quick summary – the sows stayed in a better condition and needed about 8% less feed when fermentation was applied to roughly a third of the feed. Interested? Read the report by colleague Kees van Dooren at pages 10-11.

Sows receiving ferment in their diets have been performing better and use up to 90 kg of feed less per year. Photo: Bert Jansen

The immunological gap at weaning

A follow up from the discussions held at the Zero Zinc Summit in Copenhagen, Denmark is why piglets actually develop diarrhoea after weaning. Author Hans Aae of Zinpro Performance Minerals introduces the immunological gap in this respect, which coincides with the weaning phase. There are ways to help piglets get through them, he explains at pages 26-27.

Columns on pig welfare and airbags

Columnists Dr Monique Pairis-Garcia looks ahead to this year’s edition of the Pig Welfare Symposium, to be held in Minneapolis, MN, United States. On page 34 she points out why it is an event that deserves attention: “It does not cater for one group of pig people”. Last but not least, columnist John Gadd helps handy pig people on their way with a 10-step guide how to create airbags inside piggeries, on page 12.