Improvement of technical results by the use of Ingelvac CircoFLEX® in a Dutch organic breeding and fattening farm: a case report

Abstract

Porcine Circovirus type 2 (PCV2) is a ubiquitous infection and a major cause of production loss for the pig industry. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of vaccination against PCV2 on technical results of pigs on an organic breeding and fattening farm, focussing on growth of weaned pigs and mortality and growth of fattening pigs. The study farm was an organic farm with 170 sows and on average 1,100 fattening pigs. The study was carried out retrospectively between January 2009 and May 2011. During the study period three subsequent vaccination strategies were used: 1. Stellamune One shot®, 2. Stellamune One shot® + Ingelvac CircoFLEX®, 3. Ingelvac MycoFLEX® + Ingelvac CircoFLEX®. From these three periods the corresponding management data and slaughterhouse data were analysed by an ANOVA test. Due to few data in period 2 and an outbreak of Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae during study period 2 and 3, these two periods were combined in one period and analysed by a two-sample t-test. The mortality of weaned piglets decreased with 3.59% (0.62 – 6.55%) (P 0.023) in comparison to period 1. Average daily weight gain (grams) of weaned piglets (6 – 12 weeks old) improved by 20.67 (7.40 – 33.94 gram) (P 0.004) in periods 2 and 3. Mortality of fattening pigs was 2.32% (1.19 – 3.45%) (0.001) then in period 1. Corrected energy conversion rate of fattening pigs improved 0.27 (0.05 – 0.49) (P 0.017). There was no significant effect on slaughterhouse parameters. In conclusion, vaccination against PCV2 improved technical results of weaned and fattening pigs on this particular farm. The advantage of vaccination with CircoFLEX® + MycoFLEX® in comparison with the Stellamune® + CircoFLEX® vaccination is that the two vaccinations can be mixed and administered as a one shot vaccine. This means less work for the farmer and more animal welfare.