New research on Irish pig farms has identified strategies such as management, hygiene, and biosecurity as solutions to protect piglet health while reducing the use of antibiotics.

Juan Manuel Ortiz Sanjuán, Fiona Crispie, Paul Cotter and Edgar Garcia Manzanilla tell us more.

Piglet diarrhoea at weaning is the main reason for the use of antibiotics on pig farms worldwide. In the EU, the use of preventive antibiotic and therapeutic zinc oxide in piglet diets was banned in 2022. Understanding piglet diarrhoea in this new context is key to finding solutions.

The latest bacterial sequencing technologies were used in a series of field trials on commercial pig farms to show farmers and farm staff how bacteria changed in their farms when not using antibiotics and zinc oxide. The main pathogens, including E. coli, were clearly identified, the timeline of the changes was described, and solutions were suggested for each farm to prevent piglet diarrhoea. The solutions included strategies like piglet management, hygiene or biosecurity changes.

The focus of the solutions for diarrhoea in piglets when antibiotics and zinc oxide were available was mainly treating the piglet at weaning. This research shows the pathogens that needed to be targeted and that the focus should be in earlier piglet stages. These studies were carried out in eight commercial Irish pig farms (8% of the Irish sow population). All the farms have made significant progress towards total removal of antibiotics and the results are a good example for other farms to follow.

Between 2022 and 2024 antimicrobial use on Irish pig farms has dropped by 35% and this reduction has been maintained despite the ban of preventive antibiotics and zinc oxide.

Read more from 2024 Research Impact Highlights

Contact: edgar.manzanilla@teagasc.ie
Other contributors: INRAE (French National Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment); University College Dublin
Funding: Teagasc Walsh Scholars Programme; Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Impact Pathway: Technology Development & Adoption