C. R. Parke

Description of the pig production systems, biosecurity practices and herd health providers in two provinces with high swine density in the Philippines

A cross-sectional study was conducted between October 2011 and March 2012 in two major pig producing provinces in the Philippines. Four hundred and seventy one pig farms slaughtering finisher pigs at government operated abattoirs participated in this study. The objectives of this study were to group: (a) smallholder (S) and commercial (C) production systems into patterns according to their herd health providers (HHPs), and obtain descriptive information about the grouped S and C production systems; and (b) identify key HHPs within each production system using social network analysis. On-farm veterinarians, private consultants, pharmaceutical company representatives, government veterinarians, livestock and agricultural technicians, and agricultural supply stores were found to be actively interacting with pig farmers. Four clusters were identified based on production system and their choice of HHPs. Differences in management and biosecurity practices were found between S and C clusters. Private HHPs provided a service to larger C and some larger S farms, and have little or no interaction with the other HHPs. Government HHPs provided herd health service mainly to S farms and small C farms. Agricultural supply stores were identified as a dominant solitary HHP and provided herd health services to the majority of farmers. Increased knowledge of the routine management and biosecurity practices of S and C farmers and the key HHPs that are likely to be associated with those practices would be of value as this information could be used to inform a risk-based approach to disease surveillance and control.

Prevalence and risk factors associated with gross pulmonary lesions in slaughtered pigs in smallholder and commercial farms in two provinces in the Philippines

A cross-sectional study of lungs from 1,887 randomly selected pigs from 471 farms from two provinces in the Philippines was carried out to estimate the prevalence of gross pathological lesions, identify potential risk factors and spatial clustering associated with high lung or pleurisy score farms. Lungs from pigs were scored at slaughter. Interviews with the farm managers were conducted to collect information about farm management and biosecurity practices. Of lungs examined, 48% had a lung score above 6 (maximum was 55) and 22% showed pleurisy. When data were aggregated at the farm level, commercial farms were at higher risk of being high lung score farms and high pleurisy farms compared to smallholder farms (P < 0.01). Variables that were associated with an increased risk of a farm being a high lung score farm included the presence of a market pen on the farm, not vaccinating against hog cholera and the presence of another piggery within 500 m. Practicing “feedback” (feeding pig manure, viscera or aborted material to pigs), presence of another piggery within 500 m, and allowing commercial livestock vehicles on farm were all associated with an increased risk of being a high pleurisy farm. Spatial analyses revealed a primary 9.6 km-radius cluster of 39 farms with high lung and pleurisy scores in the southeast of Bulacan province. High lung and pleurisy score farms could be targeted to improve on-farm disease control programs to reduce the risk of respiratory diseases. Clusters of high scoring farms could be prioritized for further investigations or for coordinating intervention efforts.