Review on Preventive Measures to Reduce Post-Weaning Diarrhoea in Piglets.

In many countries, medical levels of zinc (typically as zinc oxide) are added to piglet diets in the first two weeks post-weaning to prevent the development of post-weaning diarrhoea (). However, high levels of zinc constitute an environmental polluting agent, and may contribute to the development and/or maintenance of antimicrobial resistance () among bacteria. Consequently, the EU banned administering medical levels of zinc in pig diets as of June 2022.

A field trial on the effect of cross-fostering and weaning age on daily gain and disease resilience in weaned pigs.

Alternative management strategies that can increase disease resilience and reduce antibiotics in weaned pigs are needed. Our objective was to compare the effect of two nursing strategies and weaning ages on weight gain, clinical health and antibiotic treatments in weaned pigs not provided with medical zinc oxide in feed. A 2×2 factorial trial was conducted in three Danish commercial herds.

A field trial on the effect of cross-fostering on performance, clinical health and antibiotic usage during the suckling period of pigs.

Cross-fostering is a common nursing strategy in pig production, but there is sparse evidence on its effect on antibiotic usage and disease occurrence in piglets. The objective of this study was to compare the effect of two nursing strategies on antibiotic usage, disease occurrence, weight gain and mortality in piglets. A 2×2 randomized factorial experiment was conducted in three Danish commercial pig production herds.

Causes of spontaneous sow deaths in the farrowing units of 10 Danish sow herds.

This study established the causes and timing of spontaneous sow deaths in the farrowing units of ten Danish sow herds. Herds participated for seven to 15 months during 2018-19. We received data (production data and detailed information on the sows that died) on a total of 126 sows.

Antibiotic and medical zinc oxide usage in Danish conventional and welfare-label pig herds in 2016-2018.

This register-based study compared the usage of antibiotics and medical zinc oxide (ZnO) in three different pig production systems: organic, conventional free-range and conventional indoor in 2016-2018. ZnO is used to prevent weaning diarrhoea with a dosage of max 2500 mg zinc/kg feed for 14 days post weaning. The treatment incidence (TI) of antibiotics (injectable and oral) and ZnO was calculated as the total number of animal daily doses (ADD) per 100 animals per day at herd level over a calendar year.