COREPIG

Epidemiological study in organic pig herds

In order to set up a disease-specific management and surveillance programme, well-founded and comparable epidemiological data are needed from different countries representing various conditions for organic pig production in Europe.

An epidemiological study will be performed in 100 sow herds in 6 European countries (Denmark, Germany, Austria, Sweden, Italy and France) over a time period of 12 months. The disease levels in these sow herds will be estimated via interviews with herd owner and interpretation of farm recordings of livestock data collected over a minimum time period and including:

• medicine usage
• pre- and post weaning mortality
• culling reasons
• vaccination protocols

The parasite level in pigs post-weaning will be estimated from parasitological analysis of faecal samples collected from a sample of 2x20 pigs per farm in fixed seasons autumn and spring in all participating herds. These data will be supplemented by on-farm investigation and slaughterhouse data. Also, the researchers will interview the herd owner about the management and potential risk factors for parasites, diseases and mortality, and a clinical examination will be performed on every sow and litter until weaning.