Data collected for the most recent period - the quarter May-July 2008 - show the following trends:

• Pigs reared/sow/year is down slightly to 23.3 for the quarter.
• Farrowing rate remained steady at around 83 per cent.
• Average Pre-weaning mortality in July dropped sharply to just over 10.5 per cent from a peak in June of almost 12.5 per cent.
• Average sow mortality rose to just over 4.6 per cent for quarter (May-July). This is above the steady rate of around 4 per cent a year ago but the sudden rise around the turn of this year has not continued.
• Piglet scours appear to be under control in both pre-weaning and post-weaning periods at around 1.4 per cent and 0.4 per cent, respectively.
• Grower scours has come down significantly from a peak at the turn of the year to around 0.4 per cent over the May-July quarter.
• Respiratory disease in weaners remained more-or-less steady at just over 1 per cent, while the prevalence in growers was around 1.8 per cent, continuing a year-long trend downwards.
• SEP score continued at around 1, while pleurisy was again around 6 per cent, well down on its peak of more than 8 per cent in the spring this year.
• Lameness in pigs of all ages shows a gradual downward trend since the beginning of 2007. Around 0.8 per cent of sows were classified as lame and 1 per cent of piglets.
• Nervous diseases were most prevalent in weaners although, at just 0.2 per cent incidence, they are not common even in this age group. They are rarely reported in sows or growing pigs.
• Skin diseases have become less prevalent in all ages of pig since the beginning of 2008 and were reported in less than 0.3 per cent of all pigs during the latest quarter.
• Ruptures in growing pigs are also showing a gradual fall and were observed in just 0.6 per cent of pigs over the past three months.
• Vices were recorded in around 2 per cent of sows and 0.7 per cent of growing pigs, slightly down for both categories on the previous average.

  Further Reading

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