ThePigSite Newsletter - 22 February 2010

Monday 22nd February 2010

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Welcome to this week's newsletter

Editorial - Steps Forward in Solving Salmonella Scares

Significant progress has been made in reducing the number of cases of food poisoning linked to salmonella from poultry products, and attention is now focussed on other possible sources, including pigs.

The Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries in Denmark, for example, has just given DKK7 million to a research project that will make it easier for scientists and the authorities to find the sources of salmonella infections following an outbreak of food poisoning.

A recently published study from Sweden has revealed that vegetable feed ingredients such as soybean and rapeseed meals can be source of Salmonella contamination, and that the bacteria are not necessarily killed by heat treatment in the feed mill.

Also new on ThePigSite this week is a summary of the baseline study on Salmonella found on farms with breeding pigs in the European Union. The report, published at the end of last year, highlighted the fact that Salmonella were found on about one-third of the farms surveyed. A particular concern is that S. Typhimurium â€“ one of the groups that commonly causes foodborne disease in humans â€“ was detected on more than one in five of the Salmonella-positive farms in the survey.

Reports are trickling out of a new disease threat: Post-weaning Wasting Catabolic Syndrome (PWCS). A relatively new disease that affects piglets shortly after weaning, PWCS has been identified on a farm in Canada and similar cases are reported in Kansas. As the cause remains elusive, so too do methods of control.

Jackie Linden

This Week's Feature Articles

We have 7 new features this week:

Baseline Survey on Prevalence of Salmonella on EU Farms with Breeding Pigs
The main points of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) report Analysis of the baseline survey on the prevalence of Salmonella in holdings with breeding pigs in the EU, 2008. Part A: Salmonella prevalence estimates are summarised by Jackie Linden, editor of ThePigSite.

Consider Impact of PCV2 and M-Hyo Control Strategies on Nursery Pig Performance
Vaccinating pigs for porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) and Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae (M-hyo) reduced the performance of nursery pigs, reported Potter and co-authors at the Kansas Swine Day 2009, and this effect should be taken into account when implementing vaccine strategies.

Antibiotic-Free Pork Challenges Industry Norm
Manon St-Hilaire described the successful setting up of an operation to produce pork without the routine use of antibiotics at the 2010 Banff Pork Seminar.

Reduce Feed Waste
Use this guide to walk your system and reduce the risk of waste, says BPEX. It also recommends working with your feed supplier and delivery driver.

What is Benchmarking?
According to Greg Simpson, swine nutritionist at OMAFRA, producers are often faced with the problem of not having enough time to do much in-depth comparisons or analysis with other producers while setting internal benchmarks for themselves and their production team.

Canadian Hog Statistics - Fourth Quarter 2009
By Statistics Canada. Canada's January hog inventory is the lowest it has been in twelve years. Also, a steady decline in the country's breeding herd has been marked since 2005.

US Feed Outlook - February 2010
Profitable operations for ethanol producers have encouraged increased ethanol output, raising prospects for higher corn use for ethanol in 2009/10, according to this month's Feed Outlook Report from USDA Economic Research Service. The report is by A. Baker, E. Allen and H. Lutman and is entitled Corn Use for Ethanol Increased This Month.