Animal pharmaceutical company Elanco Animal Health has announce holding a seminar on piglet gut health, to help support the transition away from medicinal zinc usage to control post-weaning diarrhoea (PWD).
Jack Fellows from Elanco Animal Health said that as market research revealed 90% of producers use their vet as their first port of call when it comes to PWD, it is vital to for producers to consider an alternative prescription to zinc as soon it will no longer be an option.
“Vaccination will become an increasingly important component of PWD prevention,” said Mr Fellow. “Amongst other topics on mastering piglet gut health, the seminar aims to support knowledge on the application of in-water vaccines to ensure appropriate and effective use.”
Mr Fellows added, that while vaccination may appear costly in comparison to zinc oxide, it can offer a good return on investment: “Piglets can be vaccinated from 18 days of life, so they are protected from the pathogen at weaning, and we are seeing a growing number of UK herds using vaccines as part of their PWD prevention strategy.
“Farms using the Coliprotec vaccine are no longer using in-water medication to control scours. They’re also noticing that piglets are eating more, and that they’re achieving an extra 2kg of slaughter weight while reaching market weights seven days sooner.”
The line up of speakers for the event featuere: Faye Murch from Kingsgate Nutrition, who will discuss managing the nutritional transition away from zinc; Eric Nadeau, Elanco global pig vaccine advisor who will cover controlling the effects of PWD with Coliprotec vaccine; Daniel Parker, a veterinary consultant who will explain what can be learnt from successes in the poultry sector; and Francesc Molist from Schothorst Feed Research, who will cover the recent challenges in swine nutrition.
The seminar will take place at the Jury’s Inn hotel, near Hinckley, Leicestershire, on 21st September from 11am – 1pm. Those interested in attending can register for the event here: https://www.myelanco.co.uk/pub/swine-seminar-registration
