Dr. Keith Kinsley - A Review of Nursery Scouring

Review of Nursery Enteric Disease

Keith P. Kinsley, DVMStandard Nutrition ServicesAugust 10th, 2012Summer Health SeminarWilmington, NC

Nursery Enteric Disease Overview

Nursery animals = Nursery AGED animal Weaning (2 – 4 weeks) – 10/11 weeks of age May be found in:▪ Conventional nursery▪ Wean-to-finish barn▪ Finishing barn; Short nursery stay (4 week turns)▪ Farrowing site holding room

Transitioning from liquid, milk-based diet, to dry corn-soy-like diet


Many times not a dramatic disease presentation Scouring Wasting pigs Variable mortality Poor performance May be difficult to

measure real-time

Animal Ages Total Animals Submitted Enteric Involvement %

0-3 weeks 536 399 74.4%4-6 weeks 695 411 59.1%7-9 weeks 471 213 45.2%

10-15 weeks 487 239 49.1%

U of MN 2011 Swine Submissions

ISU 2011 Top 10 Swine Enterics 2011


Complicated, multifactorial disease process in many instances Infectious Disease Nutritional Environmental Management induced Often difficult to point to precise, single cause

NEED most accurate diagnosis to determine what is significant and actionable May mean multiple time points May mean many animals tested – and not just daily

deads Avoid the “throwing the kitchen sink” approach

Nursery Enteric Disease Where to Start

1. Source of the animals Are there others receiving the same

pigs? What do they notice? Has there been a change at the sow

farm?▪ Practices – hygiene, handling, crate/litter

management▪ Vaccinations or treatment of sows (or lack

thereof)▪ Employee changes


2. Previous history of the group Sow farm broke with ____________ 10

days ago Heater out overnight on this group in

farrowing Farrowing site nursery management▪ Water▪ Feed ▪ Treatments


3. Group vaccination and treatments to this point Piglets did not get their normal

processing program, processed late in life, etc.

This group missed __________ vaccination

All piglets needed to be handled and retreated outside normal routines – because of ________


4. Site history – Where weaned pigs go Water quality Manager abilities Same as or greatly different from

historical groups on site


5. Barn design, pen layout, environment Finishers attached to nursery barn Large pens v. small pens – how easy to identify

and treat those needing help▪ More importantly the effort required to get it done▪ Speed at which it is moving through the barn – may help

to identify pathogen and urgency of treatment required Temperature swings in the barn, water availability,

adequate air quality and ventilation rates “The barn has pens and nursery feeders”

therefore it is a nursery – NO!


6. Age of the animals at onset of disease Duration in the barn before signs noticed Ration associated▪ “Pigs always struggle when switched from X

to Y ration”▪ From pellet to grind and mix▪ From no distillers to 400 pounds

▪ Mixing errors – F6 delivered to first nursery grind and mix

▪ Bin/Phase management – feed out whatever is in bin from last group


7. Identifiable Points of Risk Farrow-to-finish sites, wean-to-finish

sites, v. 3-site production Biosecurity between buildings, age

spread of animals on site Seasonality


Seasonality – that which we cannot control Can we make

preparatory adjustments?▪ Extra shavings on trucks▪ Prewarmed nurseries –

not just warmer than outside

▪ Electrolytes or acidified water intervention

▪ Antibiotic intervention on arrival

Jan

Feb

Mar AprMay Ju

n JulAug Se

pOct

Nov Dec0

1020304050607080

Rotavirus 0 -3 week olds

Rotavirus 4-6 week olds

Jan

MarMay Ju

lSe

pNov

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Clostridium per-fringensRotavirus

U of MN 2011 Submissions 0 – 3 week old animals

Nursery Enteric Disease What should we expect to see

Clinical signs plus timing may tell us the story we need to address and correct the issue Scouring Wasting pigs

When clinical signs are not obvious or timing is variable… How do we measure the effects? Mortality Feed and water intakes Site records


Diagnostics What do they tell us? Are diagnostics telling the correct story?▪ Fallback pigs with E. coli and Salmonella –

What are we actually addressing?▪ Circovirus plus ________ scenario – Are we

vaccinating for the pig’s benefit or ours?▪ What about water or feed samples?


Early Nursery (weaning – 2 weeks post-wean) Many of the same entities that the sow

farm experiences – Rotavirus, Clostridium type A, E. coli, Transmissible Gastroenteritis (TGE)

Does it arrive with the pigs? Is it on the site?Animal Age Clostridium Perfringens E. coli Rotavirus A Rotavirus B Rotavirus C TGE

0-3 weeks 241 91 68 40 146 2

4-6 weeks 6 32 261 177 169 26

7-9 weeks 1 6 147 98 103 19

10-15 weeks 2 6 132 112 73 28

- University of MN D-Lab 2011

Nursery Enteric Disease What should we expect to see Late Nursery (2 weeks post-wean – 10 weeks of

age) What is on the site – E. coli, Salmonella, Intestinal

parasites, Lawsonia, Brachyspira, TGE? What are the vaccination practices?▪ Circovirus vaccinations occur after pigs demonstrate they are

healthy – how long did we wait?▪ Partial dosing of vaccines – is there really a cost benefit and

does it hold in the face of exposure?ISU D-Lab 2011 – identified as causal


Where are the animals found with enteric disease? Conventional nursery v Finishing Floor Open housing v Confinement

Pathogen Type of Organism Typical Age affected

Brachyspira bacteria Late nursery and older

Circovirus virus Mid nursery and older

Clostridium bacteria Suckling to Early nursery

Coccidiosis protazoa Early nursery

E. coli bacteria Mid nursery and younger

Lawsonia bacteria Late nursery and older

Rotavirus virus Mid nursery and younger

Roundworms parasite Late nursery and older

Salmonella bacteria Any age

TGE virus Any age


Sorting out enteric disease without an obvious clinical presentation: Changes in feed and water intake▪ Changes to rations recently▪ Major ingredient change▪ Grind consistency change

Increased sudden deaths without respiratory involvement

Pale pigs Health status change – especially

immunosuppressive▪ New disease introduction▪ Where are diagnostics leading us


Nutritional causes of enteric disease or under performance Non-starting pigs – Why? Site management – are we correctly

identifying and addressing animals needing help?

Nursery Enteric DiseaseDiagnosis

Personal favorite – NECROPSY Fixed and fresh tissues▪ Tie off fresh sections of small intestine▪ Keep fresh small and large intestinal sections

separate▪ Many cut sections of small and large intestine

for fixed▪ Send everything as most labs run on per

animal basis not per sample basis – lung, heart, kidney, spleen, liver, lymph nodes, tonsil – We never know what we may find

Get on ic

e quickly and

keep cool!!

!

Nursery Enteric DiseaseDiagnostics

Additional items for enteric work up▪ Fecal samples

▪ Fecals can be good for PCR – Lawsonia, TGE, Brachyspira or parasite fecal floatations

▪ Not as good for culture versus fresh intestinal samples

▪ Blood samples▪ Good for telling what has happened to the group▪ Better for some enteric pathogens than others

▪ Feed samples▪ May need these as back-up if nothing else pans out▪ Sometimes what makes it to the feeder is not how it was designed

▪ Water samples▪ Often overlooked and many times has not been done on site since

original well testing▪ There are some special supply needs and timing issues to go with

water sampling


What should we test for? General work-up of tissues▪ Most labs are pretty good at getting to the

bottom of the problem if given age and clinical signs▪ If taking blood samples for enteric work-up,

question is usually: “Is there something else going on here?” ▪ PRRS, Flu, Circovirus▪ Odd timing of enteric disease such as ileitis

▪ Fecals can typically be processed with the tissues without a lot of extra cost


Ancillary testing▪ Feed and water samples may need

to end up at a secondary laboratory depending on what we are looking for

▪ Feed can be stored for a considerable amount of time before being analyzed

▪ Depending on the desired tests for water, these may need more immediate attention

▪ Always good to have documentation when not directly an infectious disease issue

Nursery Enteric Disease Selecting a course of action

What are our choices? Can we treat cost effectively? Can we vaccinate to control? Is it more effective to eliminate?

We must know the root of the problem before we can do anything

How do we measure improvement or success from our intervention?


Treat – we can manage it! Make the decision to tolerate as long as

it can be reasonably managed Address with antibiotic program Change biosecurity practices


Vaccination No effective or applicable treatment available▪ Viral organism that does not respond to treatment▪ Niche marketing – ABF, Whole Foods

Cost effectiveness benefits of vaccination outweigh uncertainty of other options

Disease is slightly more painful than what can be managed through treatment alone


Eliminate – I cannot live with this! No cost effective treatment No really great vaccine or vaccination is

not cost effective Only way to fix is to break the cycle and

clean-up


Measuring improvement Improved performance through the nursery▪ Reduced mortality▪ Increased daily gain and improved feed efficiency▪ Reduced intervention costs

Continued monitoring Record analysis – nursery aged production Communication with sow farm▪ Testing ▪ Friendly warnings of group health challenges


Sow farm contributions Vaccination changes Adjustment of farrowing house practices▪ Not entering crates▪ No holding back litters▪ Better on site nursery management

Nursery Enteric DiseaseConclusions

Nursery enteric disease is often complicated by multiple factors simultaneously

A good herd/source history will help reach an actionable point of intervention

Diagnostics are key to effective nursery enteric intervention – tissues, fecals, blood as well as feed and water - $$$ better spent in knowing than guessing!

Economics of disease will drive the intervention method – treat, control, or eliminate

Follow-up communication and monitoring will determine the long-term success of plan put in place

Dr. Keith Kinsley - A Review of Nursery Scouring

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