A bio-economic simulation study on the association between key performance indicators and pluck lesions in Irish farrow-to-finish pig farms
Calderón Díaz, Julia Adriana (Teagasc Animal and Grassland Research and Innovation Centre. Pig Development Department)
Rodrigues da Costa, Maria (Scotland's rural College. Epidemiology research unit)
Shalloo, Laurence (Teagasc Animal and Grassland Research and Innovation Centre. Livestock Production Systems)
Niemi, Jarkko K. (Natural Resources Institute Finland)
Leonard, Finola Catherine (University College Dublin. School of Veterinary Medicine)
Crespo-Piazuelo, Daniel (Teagasc Animal and Grassland Research and Innovation Centre. Pig Development Department)
Gasa, Josep (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Ciència Animal i dels Aliments)
García Manzanilla, Edgar (University College Dublin. School of Veterinary Medicine)

Date:	2020
Abstract:	Pluck lesions are associated with decreased performance in grower-finisher pigs, but their economic impact needs to be further investigated. This study aimed to identify the main pluck lesions and the cut-off value for their prevalence, associated with changes in average daily gain (ADG) during the wean-to-finish period, to simulate their effects on economic performance of farrow-to-finish farms. Pigs (n = 162 ± 51. 9 per farm) from 56 farrow-to-finish farms were inspected at slaughter and the prevalence of enzootic pneumonia-like lesions, pleurisy, lung scars, abscesses, pericarditis, and liver milk spots was estimated. For each farm, annual performance indicators were obtained. Regression trees analysis (RTA) was used to identify pluck lesions and to estimate cut-off values for their prevalence associated with changes in ADG. Different scenarios were simulated as per RTA results and economic and risk analyses were performed using the Teagasc Pig Production Model. Risk analysis was performed by Monte Carlo sampling using the Microsoft Excel add-in @Risk with 10,000 iterations. Pleurisy and lung scars were the main lesions associated with changes in ADG. Three scenarios were simulated based on RTA results: a 728 sow farrow-to-finish farm with prevalence of i) pleurisy < 25% and lung scars < 8% (LPLSC; ADG = 760 g); ii) pleurisy < 25% and lung scar ≥8% (LPHSC; ADG = 725 g) and iii) pleurisy ≥25% (HP; ADG = 671 g). The economic analysis showed increased feed and dead animals for disposal costs, and lower sales in the HP and LPHSC scenarios than in the LPLSC scenario; thereby reducing gross margin and net profit. Results from the risk analysis showed lower probability of reaching any given level of profit in the HP scenario compared with the LPHSC and LPLSC scenarios. Under the conditions of this study, higher prevalence of pleurisy and lung scars were associated with decreased ADG during the grower-finisher period and with lower economic return in the simulated farms. These results highlight the economic benefits and importance of preventing and/or controlling respiratory disease.
Note:	Altres ajuts: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, 14/S/832 ; Teagasc, PDPG-0231-6666 ; Joint Programming Initiative on Antimicrobial Resistance JPI-AMR-2017-1-A
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Subject:	Economic modelling ; Lung scars ; Pig production systems ; Pleurisy ; Regression trees ; Stochastic budgeting
Published in:	Porcine health management, Vol. 6 (december 2020) , ISSN 2055-5660

DOI: 10.1186/s40813-020-00176-w
PMID: 33298194

15 p, 1.5 MB

The record appears in these collections:
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles