07 February 2025

Health and welfare: Work in progress

Edgar Garcia Manzanilla, Head of Teagasc Pig Department, tells us about ongoing research at the Teagasc Pig Research Facility, from reducing antibiotic and zinc oxide use to exploring free-lactation systems, new strategies are being tested to improve farming practices.

The new regulations affecting antimicrobial and ZnO use are in place for a while now and Irish farmers are adapting. The progressive removal of zinc oxide during the last two years has resulted, as expected, in a slight increase in total antibiotic use. We should be back to the previous downward trend soon with a few adjustments. Some good news is that farmers have been able to keep the reduction of critical antibiotics, those that should be only for human use, despite the recent increase in total antibiotic usage. There are a number of projects ongoing in Teagasc pig department on new strategies to raise pigs without antibiotics and zinc oxide; MonoGutHealth, FARM-CARE, AMU-FARM, Biosecure. However we now have enough research done in this area and we need to focus on strategies to help farmers implement good practice. Some of the research ongoing in this area is specially focused on the implementation of good practice in biosecurity, looking at how to transfer the knowledge to the those performing the tasks on farm. Providing farm staff with the right technical information and tools is going to become more and more important in coming years.

Total antibiotic use in Irish pig farms over the last 5 years (provided by AHI).

The new EU welfare legislation was not released on the announced date, the end of 2023, possibly due to the EU elections, and it is not expected to be released until 2026. This delay creates uncertainties for those farmers that are investing in their farm right now. However, the delay in the release of these regulations also allows farmers to contribute to shape the final draft. Teagasc and IFA are involved in a EU innovation network, WelFarmers, to collect good practices related to pig welfare all over the EU. This good practice will allow the pig sector to make progress on animal welfare considering the input of farmers as final users. The results of this project will not only help farmers and technical services but will also inform policy makers on the most effective ways to improve pig welfare in the coming years while ensuring pig farms remain sustainable. One of the main points in the Welfarmers project, and in the new EU regulations, will be the need to use free-lactation systems. To start testing the options for new farrowing systems, the pig department has started two projects in the last year; FitToFarrowFree and IDEAS-AMED, and plans to change half of the farrowing crates in the Moorepark Pig Research Facility to a new system of free-lactation.