Ever wonder if you really need to vaccinate your swine herd? Or, maybe if you can just get by with partial doses of vaccine? Well, the veterinarians who attended the Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica, Inc. (BIVI) Swine Health Seminar in Omaha, NE got an important lesson from farmers in South America who found out just how important vaccine really is.
Dr. Edgar Diaz, a technical manager for BI, told the group how in Chile, farmers had years when they vaccinated against PCVAD. Then, because of economic issues, they stopped vaccinating. Now, they’ve started vaccinating again and are seeing much better survival rates in their swine herds.
“The reduction in mortality was around 60 percent, and the improvement in prime market pigs was around 30 percent.”
Dr. Diaz says the numbers were enough for the South American operation to go from operating in the red to a profitable company once again. He says data like this is invaluable to BI as it is able to show farmers black and white numbers on how a vaccine program, such as the ones his company offers, can make or break a producer’s bottom line.
It should also be noted that Dr. Diaz filled in at the last minute for his colleague, Gonzalo Castro, who was in Chile taking care of personal business after the tragic earthquake in that country.
You can hear more of my conversation with Dr. Diaz below.