Tools help farmers to keep improving pig health and welfare

The pig industry has made huge strides in recent years by taking steps to prevent the spread of disease, reduce antibiotic use, increase understanding of pig behaviour, and improve the physical environment on farm. It is committed to keep doing more to continuously improve.

As well as improving pigs’ wellbeing and productivity, health and welfare underpin the integrity of the British pig industry so consumers at home and across the globe can be confident that the pork product they are buying has been produced by following the highest standards of health and welfare. This underlines the importance of the role health and welfare plays in protecting and enhancing the industry’s reputation.

It therefore remains a key priority for us to continue to help producers, processors, and vets to keep improving pig health and welfare. Detailed below are some of the tools and initiatives we are working with the industry to deliver.

Electronic medicine book (eMB)

It is essential that the pig industry has a central place to record accurate on-farm antibiotic usage data and monitor progress towards reduction targets.

The electronic medicine book for pigs (eMB) is a website available to all UK producers. eMB has recorded a 60% reduction in antibiotic use across 94% of finished pigs since it was introduced in 2016.

It provides a single point of access for producers to record not only antibiotic use but also other medicine use, if they choose, meaning they can use it as their full legal medicine book. It also enables producers to benchmark their use against other similar-sized pig enterprises and national usage rates.

Pig Health Scheme

The Pig Health Scheme provides post-mortem data on pigs to help monitor herd health. It is free of charge to all producers and highlights the impact of endemic diseases that they may not be aware of, or just live with, such as a low-level cough. Health scheme reports provide a valuable assessment of the current health status of a herd.

Signing up is quick and easy, via producers’ existing Pig Hub account. Once registered you receive reports automatically after each Pig Health Scheme assessment at the abattoir.

Reviewing the reports helps producers monitor the effects of management changes, for example, changes to feeding or vaccination programmes. It also helps them make more informed decisions, with their vet, to improve health and welfare and to reduce unexplained drops in performance.

Aggregated, anonymised data also means herd health status can be compared against that of other members of the scheme.

Real Welfare

The Real Welfare Scheme provides the largest database of its kind globally for measuring pig ‘welfare outcomes’ and provides a valuable source of information to help drive further welfare improvements on farms and across the industry as a whole.

Real Welfare involves an on-farm assessment of pig welfare using a set of five objective and repeatable measures, carried out by vets on samples of finisher pigs.

These welfare outcomes are animal-based, meaning that they are obtained from the animals themselves, rather than from their environment; for example, lameness or tail damage, rather than the amount of space or floor type provided.

The Real Welfare Scheme helps identify and monitor any welfare issues and find solutions, strengthening farm management through veterinary guidance and benchmarking.
Importantly, the scheme also provides science-based evidence to help demonstrate animal husbandry and welfare standards to retailers, consumers, animal welfare lobby groups and policymakers.

Real Welfare assessments are a requirement of both the Red Tractor Pigs Scheme and Quality Meat Scotland (QMS) Pigs Assurance Scheme.

Husbandry Advisory Tool for tail biting

Our web-based Husbandry Advisory Tool (WebHAT) is an interactive resource providing information about the key risks for tail biting and practical suggestions to help reduce these risks on-farm. However, every situation is different, and guidance must always be reviewed in conjunction with the farm vet.

eAML2

The eAML2 pig movement system is run by AHDB for APHA. It records all movements of pigs within England and Wales and provides essential information in the event of a disease outbreak to help inform plans to reduce further spread.

UK Pig Industry Welfare Training platform

The correct moving and handling of pigs is essential as it not only improves pig welfare, performance, conception rates and carcase quality but also affects stockperson wellbeing.

High standards of handling also demonstrate our commitment to meeting consumer expectations for the care and welfare of pigs.

Everyone involved in the care, moving, and handling of pigs needs to complete online welfare training as part of Red Tractor standards.

The training was developed by AHDB and key stakeholders, including the National Pig Association (NPA), Red Tractor and the Pig Veterinary Society, as well as pig producers, to help ensure a consistent and high level of welfare across the pig industry and demonstrate to consumers that we are a responsible industry that takes the care and welfare of our livestock seriously.

It is also an excellent refresher tool for those experienced with handling pigs and a great way to upskill new entrants.

Disease prevention

Identifying disease promptly on farm before it can cause too great an impact is key. Current surveillance mechanisms for the British pig industry include:

• Disease surveillance and emerging threats quarterly reports produced by the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA)
• Routine weekly testing of non-suspect cases of diarrhoea in pigs for PEDv by APHA, funded by AHDB
• The Pig Health Scheme
• The Significant Disease Charter

Significant diseases charter

The Significant Diseases Charter has an important role in sharing information quickly with other producers in the event of a swine dysentery or PEDv outbreak. It aims to help producers prevent further spread of the disease.

Producers can sign up to the charter via their existing Pig Hub account and their personal details are not shared with other charter members or with external bodies.

When reporting an outbreak, the Significant Diseases Charter only notifies charter members and identifies:

• Outcode (first half) of the producer’s postcode
• Region
• The disease itself and when it was confirmed

Contingency planning

Many situations have the potential to pose uncertainty to producers. This could include changes to contracts or being placed in a restriction zone, resulting in pigs being on farm for longer periods, and/or changes in the availability of supplies or of staff cover.

The coronavirus pandemic has demonstrated how a disease can rapidly evolve to cause mass disruption in the supply chain in a matter of weeks. Our guide to contingency planning takes producers through the process of preparing for incidents, including alternative accommodation options for pigs.

Pig Hub

Pig Hub is a single pig industry portal for all producers where they can use their account to access eAML2, eMB, the Pig Health Scheme, the Significant Diseases Charter, and their Real Welfare reports.

Shape the Future

Levy payers who have signed up to take part in Shape the Future have until midday 9 May to have their say about the challenges they want AHDB to focus on and the services delivered to them in future. If improving animal health and welfare, reducing disease, and demonstrating high standards is important to you, make sure you score it five when you vote.