健康的生猪生产体系是可持续的

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多年以来，全球养猪业开发了居舍内的养猪体系。现在的问题是 — 猪必须适应这些体系，还是这些体系是根据猪的需求设计的？该问题的答案可以帮助我们更深入地了解如何提升农场的健康水平。

——Anna-Catharina Berge博士，奥特奇公司代表

世界动物卫生组织（OIE）估计，养殖场动物疾病导致全球20％的食物生产损失。因此，动物的健康和福利对于未来的可持续生产体系至关重要。在应对猪只的健康问题时，考虑疾病的流行病学三元素非常重要，疾病始终是由以下三个因素导致的：

1.猪

2.环境

3.致病病原体。

带有观景廊的养猪场增加了开放性和透明度。

摄影: Bert Jansen

对生猪福利的需求增加

在生猪生产中，对于生猪福利、高质量产品、抗菌剂减量，环境可持续体系，生产过程中的公开和可追溯的需求在不断提高。猪肉生产商为满足消费者的期望正面临巨大挑战，在当今这些期待在当前市场和生产体系下很大程度无法达成。

为满足当前消费者需求和未来可持续发展目标，有必要提高生猪的健康水平、改善畜牧业、提高生产效率，并最终建立起一个全球负责任的、可持续发展的体系。养猪环境、管理和营养能改善猪只的健康和福利，同时也能提高生产效率。因此，对于猪的健康和福利的投资是值得的，而且，这还能改善养猪人的福利。

如今，工业化养猪面临着许多健康方面的挑战。每个农场面临着生猪健康和福利的双重挑战，而疾病通常出现在生产体系的薄弱环节上。由于养猪业的关注点是努力改善生猪生产体系的生产效率，而往往无法兼顾生猪的需求。更确切的说，养猪业试图让猪适应这样的体系。

猪场的地方性疾病

其结果是各种疾病成为养猪场的地方病。鉴定出农场发生疾病的风险因素并关注其解决方案，比对动物实施药物治疗或接种疫苗更加重要。

虽然，抗生素、抗球虫药和疫苗等药物是快速改善猪场健康状况的有效手段。但是，这些兽医治疗不应作为不考虑畜牧业、环境和饲料中存在疾病因素的风险，而实施的单独的永久性解决方案。人们通常会赞同“预防胜于治疗”的说法，但多数情况下在农场仍然难以付诸实施。

当试图优化猪场的生猪健康时，人们通常会关注一种或几种疾病。重要的是要迅速确定是哪一种主要的病原体抑制了猪的健康，并实施治疗。然而，问题是一旦症状消退，疾病很容易复发并重复下去，或许在标准方案中还包括另一种治疗方法。这很有可能就导致了过量使用抗生素。

抗生素过量使用正在威胁抗生素对人类和动物后代的功效。经过治疗后，我们必须坚持并继续解决那些可能导致动物死于疾病的风险因素，这些风险因素可能来自管理、环境或营养。

这是创建“健康生产”最为重要的一步。全球对于动物生产中抗生素减量的目标，将有助于整个养猪业通过适当的环境、饲养和饲料优化动物健康和福利，从而使整个行业受益。这将提升猪的健康水平，提高生产力，并最终形成一个全球负责的、可持续的体系。

生物安全

生物安全对于防止将致病生物体引入农场并防止在农场内传播至关重要。猪场生物安全的改善与生产水平的提高，使用抗微生物菌剂和耐药性降低有关。大多数猪场都需要集中精力加强内部生物安全，对健康猪场的主要的挑战来自于生猪自身，内部生物安全可以减少传播和影响。相比于“外部的生物安全”，“内部的生物安全”对于日常工作的影响更大，许多农民往往忽视了日常工作行为，导致增强了致病病原体的传播。

免疫

在工业化生猪生产中，应对各种疾病开发良好的免疫至关重要。良好的免疫始于 仔猪出生，仔猪能摄取好的初乳和营养。事实证明，疫苗对于预防传染病的发病和传播至关重要且具有很高的成本效益，因此对现代健康生产体系尤为重要。

然而，增强免疫力的措施不仅限于疫苗接种，还包括许多其他因素，例如基因选育、无病原体的动物、营养、免疫增强补充剂、霉菌毒素预防、减轻应激，养殖密度和环境等因素。动物必须生活在应激低，营养良好的环境中，才能有效地发展其疾病防御的能力。补充某些有机矿物质，例如硒（Sel-Plex），有助于免疫发挥最佳功能。

年轻母猪和经产母猪的妊娠和哺乳

必须尊重猪的生理和对环境的需求，这不仅是出于福利原因和消费者需求，而且是因为管理和环境压力不利于生猪健康成长，并最终造成生产效率降低。我们在断奶期的仔猪，成长期的猪和育成期的猪中可以观察到的许多问题都可以追溯到妊娠和哺乳期的母猪和母猪的健康状况。

猪如果在出生时体况差，终其一生也不会得到完全恢复。因此，必须确保母猪的良好健康和福利。放养居舍体系对于母猪的福利和健康非常重要。应加强对于营养优化的关注，因为这将影响母猪良好的初乳和哺乳能力。

水

母猪的供水通常不足或者不能达标，这将直接影响母猪的采食量和泌乳量。饮水设备或饮水乳头的微生物水质很少被检查，因此，在饮水体系中可能形成生物膜，进而影响到生猪肠道菌群和肠道健康。

应激

断奶期是仔猪经历的高应激期，早期断奶加上移动仔猪和窝仔件的混合使仔猪的应激达到极限。重要的是要尊重仔猪的发育过程，而不应仅仅是设法使其适应我们的体系，因为断奶的应激会带来长期的后果。

养殖密度、猪舍的卫生条件、垫料、温度、湿度和空气质量，仅是这几项环境条件，却对健康和福利产生巨大影响。

温度：理想的环境温度，需要完全适应生猪的年龄和体重。

通风和空气质量：良好的空气质量和通风对于保持猪的健康和活力至关重要，目前的许多体系在这一方面都存在不足。许多农场中氨的含量过高，这与呼吸系统疾病直接相关。

过度存栏：不幸的是过度存栏非常普遍，这会影响环境温度和卫生状况，而且很多时候会导致清洁和消毒的减少以及缩短批次生猪的“空栏期”。

过度拥挤：过度拥挤还会带来猪群的社交应激，导致饮食和休息空间不足。此外，生猪的运输和交易会造成很强的生理应激，并可能传播疾病，这种体系可能在未来的无抗生素生产体系中受到挑战。

荷兰一个养猪场里的生猪不仅有充足的空间，甚至还有加层空间。

摄影: Matthijs Verhagen

霉菌毒素

霉菌毒素在现代饲料中非常常见，是目前已知的最强毒素之一。但是，许多农民低估了霉菌毒素的存在和风险。必须评估霉菌毒素对生猪的风险并采取适当的措施，例如饲料原料的采购，适当的运输和储存方式，包括在饲料中加入广谱真菌毒素吸附剂，例如Mycosorb。

健康的肠道

肠道健康是动物健康的关键。肠道包含着一个非常活跃的免疫体系，肠道是猪只最先遭遇可能引起疾病的生物体（如细菌，病毒和寄生虫）或有毒化合物（如霉菌毒素）的器官。平衡和多样化的微生物群组对于最佳消化和养分吸收至关重要。

保持肠道健康的最重要的是通过提供最佳的饲料，以满足特定年龄和生产阶段生猪的营养需求。在不同的生长阶段使用适当的饲料非常重要，仔猪的断奶时间和断奶体系规划需要让仔猪从采食母乳过渡到采食固体饲料上来。

多阶段饲喂体系和精准饲喂不仅可以提高生产效率而且是对提高猪只健康水平的重要工具。膳食补充剂（例如酵母衍生品（Actigen））已被证明可以优化肠道结构，肠道菌群并提高饲料效率。与无机矿物质相比，有机矿物质更容易被吸收、储存和消化，对免疫、生长和代谢功能都非常重要。

奥特奇（Alltech）发起的一项业界减少抗生素使用规划可以帮助农民开发疾病预防并建立一套健康的生产体系。该规划提供审计、外部专业知识、指导以及应用经过验证的饲喂技术解决方案，以改善猪场的健康水平和生产效率。奥特奇针对单独猪场量身定制的抗生素减量规划可以独立申请，也可以纳入现有的国家标准规划中。

Healthy Pig Production Systems Are Sustainable

Over the years, the global swine industry has designed systems to keep pigs in. Now the question is – did the pigs have to adapt to the systems or were the systems designed to the pigs’ needs? The answer to that question can help to gain more insight how to make a farm healthier.

By Dr Anna-Catharina Berge, on behalf of Alltech

The World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) estimates that 20% of global food production is lost due to diseases in farmed animals. Therefore, health and welfare of animals is crucial for future sustainable production systems. When working with pig health it is very important to consider the epidemiological triad of disease, where disease is always a consequence of the 3 factors:

1.      the pig,

2.      the environment and

3.      the disease-causing agent.

A pig farm with a viewing gallery increases openness and transparency.

Photo: Bert Jansen

Increasing demands on pig welfare

There are increasing demands on pig welfare, high quality products, low antimicrobial use, environmentally sustainable systems, openness and traceability in pig production. Pig meat producers are facing huge challenges to meet consumer expectations that cannot be met a lot of time in the current market and production systems.

To meet current consumer demands and future sustainability goals it is necessary to have a higher level of pig health, improved husbandry, increased productivity and ultimately a globally responsible and sustainable system. Improvements in pig environment, management and nutrition enhance health and welfare, while productivity increase. Therefore, investments in pig health and welfare are cost-effective and furthermore they improve the welfare of those working with the pigs.

There are numerous health challenges facing the industrialised pig production these days. Every farm has a combination of challenges to their pigs’ health and welfare and the diseases present are usually linked to the weaknesses of the production system. As the industry has attempted to improve productivity and efficiency of pig production systems, often systems were not adapted to the needs of the pigs. Rather, the industry tried to adapt the pigs to the systems.

Endemic diseases in pig farms

The result has been various diseases have become endemic in pig farms. It is very important to identify the risk factors for the diseases present on the farm and focus on those, rather than just medicating or vaccinating the animals. Medicines such as antibiotics, anticoccidials and vaccines are valuable tools that can immediately assist a farmer to optimise the health of the pigs. However, these veterinary treatments should not be the sole permanent solutions without considering the risks for disease found in husbandry, environment and feed. The saying ‘prevention is better than cure’ is often embraced, but the implementation of this saying on the farm is many times still lacking.

It is common to focus on one or several diseases when trying to optimise the pig health on a farm. It is important to quickly determine what major disease agent is suppressing health in the pigs and treat it. However, once the symptoms have subsided, it is way too easy to simply just continue as previously, with possibly, another treatment included in the standard protocols. This is likely the strategy that had led the industry into the antibiotic overuse situation that is now threatening the efficacy of our antibiotics for future generations of humans and animals. After treatment, it is necessary to move on and address the risk factors, that could be management, environment or nutrition, that made the animals succumb to disease.

That is the most important step to create ‘Healthy production’. The global goal to reduce antimicrobial use in animal production will thereby assist the whole pig industry to optimise animal health and welfare through proper environment, husbandry and feed, and thereby the whole sector will benefit. This will lead to higher level of pig health, increased productivity, and ultimately a globally responsible and sustainable system.

Biosecurity

Biosecurity is critical in preventing the introduction of disease-causing organisms on a farm and prevent the spread within a farm. Higher levels of biosecurity in pig farms has been shown to be associated with higher levels of production, and decreased antimicrobial use and resistance. Most pig farms need to focus on improving internal biosecurity, since the major challenges for the farms’ health are already found in the pigs, and thereby internal biosecurity can reduce the spread and impact. ‘Internal biosecurity’ has a larger impact on the everyday working routines than ‘external biosecurity’ and many farmers tend to ignore that they are collaborating with the disease-causing agent in spreading it around.

Immunity

A good developed immunity to various diseases is essential in industrial pig production. A good immunity in a piglet starts at birth, with good colostrum intake and nutrition. Vaccines have proven to be crucial and very cost-effective in preventing the onset and spread of infectious diseases and therefore crucial in the modern healthy production system. However, immune-enhancing measures are not limited to vaccinations but include numerous other factors such as genetic selection, pathogen-free animals, nutrition, immune-enhancing supplements, mycotoxin prevention, stress reduction, stocking density and environmental factors. It is essential that the animals live in a low stress environment with good nutrition to be able to effectively develop their disease defence. Supplementation of certain organic minerals, such as selenium (Sel-Plex), aid in the optimal functioning of the immune-system.

Gestating and lactating gilts and sows

It is imperative to respect the pig’s physiological and environmental needs, not only for welfare reasons and consumers demands, but also because management and environmental stress are detrimental for health and ultimately productivity. Many of the challenges that we observe in weaners, growers and finishers can be traced back to the health of the gestating and lactating gilts and sows. A pig will never get over a bad start in life. Therefore, it is essential to assure that the health and welfare of the sows is not compromised. Free housing systems for the gestating sows are very important for the sow’s welfare and health. Optimal nutrition cannot be emphasised enough as that will impact her ability to produce a good colostrum and lactation.

Water

The water supply to the sow is often insufficient or compromised and this will directly impact her feed intake and milk production. Microbial water quality is rarely checked in the drinkers or nipples, and therefore it is possible that biofilm formation occurs in the systems that can influence the pigs gut flora and enteric health.

Stress

The moment of highest stress to the piglets is weaning, and an early weaning combined with moving of piglets and commingling of litters is stressing the piglets to the limit. It is important to respect the development of the young piglets and not just try to make them adapt to our systems, since there are long-term consequences of weaning stress.

Stocking density, hygienic conditions of housing, bedding material, temperature, humidity and air quality are just a few environmental conditions that have a huge influence on health and welfare.

Temperature: The ideal environmental temperature needs to be perfectly adapted to the age and weight of the pigs.

Ventilation & air quality: Good air quality and ventilation is essential to keep our pigs healthy and vigorous, and many of our current systems have weaknesses in this area. High levels of ammonia are present in many farms, and this is directly linked to respiratory disease.

Overstocking: Overstocking is unfortunately way too common, and this impacts the environmental temperature and hygiene, and many times it leads to the reduction in cleaning and disinfection and ‘time empty’ between batches of pigs.

Overcrowding: Overcrowding also imposes a social stress with insufficient eating and resting space. Furthermore, transport and trade in live pigs impose high physiological stress and can spread diseases and this system may be challenged in future non-antibiotic systems.

These grower pigs in a pig farm in the Netherlands are stocked with plenty of space and even have their own elevated platform.

Photo: Matthijs Verhagen

Mycotoxins

Mycotoxins are highly prevalent in our modern feed sources and some of the most potent toxins known. Many farmers under-estimate the mycotoxin presence and risks. It is imperative to evaluate the risks of mycotoxins for the pigs and take appropriate measures, such as sourcing of feed ingredients, proper transport and storage of feed, and including a broad-spectrum mycotoxin-binder such as Mycosorb in the feed.

Healthy gut

A healthy gut is a key to a healthy animal. The gut contains a very active immune system, and this is the location where the pig first encounters potential disease-causing organisms such as bacteria, viruses and parasites, or toxic compounds such as mycotoxins. A balanced and diverse microbial composition is critical for optimal digestion and nutrient uptake. The most important tool for good gut health is to provide the best feed possible that meets the nutritional needs for the specific age and stage of production. Appropriate feed for the various stages of development is very important and weaning times and weaning systems in piglets need to allow the piglets to transition from sow’s milk to solid feeds. Multi-phase feeding systems and precision feeding are valuable tools not only for productivity, but also for health. Dietary supplements such as yeast-derived products (Actigen) have been shown to optimise gut structure, gut microflora, and improve feed efficiency. Organic minerals that are more easily absorbed, stored and assimilated by the body compared to their inorganic counterparts are very important for immunity, growth and metabolic functions.

An industry-initiated antibiotic reduction programme by Alltech can assist farmers to develop their disease prevention programme and create a healthy production system. It provides audits, external expertise, coaching as well as applying proven feed technological solutions to improve health and productivity. Alltech’s antibiotic reduction programme, tailored to the individual producer, can be applied as stand-alone programme or fit into existing national programmes.

原创： Anna-Catharina Misset 世界畜牧