Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica, Inc. hosted media in St. Paul, MN this weekend to talk about how proven prevention drives the use of less antibiotics. Dr. Mike Eisenmenger, Swine Vet Center, spoke on how to drive pig performance in today’s world of antibiotic usage.
“Instead of just saying our overall goal is to use less antibiotics at all costs, we are looking at different prevention strategies, i.e. vaccinations, to take the place of antibiotics like we have used in the past. It is just the right thing to do. The animal is always going to be happier with a prevention, never getting sick in the first place.”
He said the ways to accomplish using less and still having an ‘easy’ pig to raise stems around the elimination of diseases when possible, strong biosecurity programs and the development of a robust vaccination program.
Dr. Eisenmenger talked about what a typical vaccination program looks like at each stage of the growing cycle. He used ileitis as an example since it’s a disease that hits late in a pigs life. “Even if we institute a treatment program at that point in time, we are forced to use a lot of antibiotics. We want to back clear up to the nursery stage and apply an oral vaccine that will eliminate the problem that we would normally see without vaccinating.”
There seems to be a clear advantage to using oral vaccines and Dr. Eisenmenger said it’s simply ease of administration. “It is very easy to vaccinate a large number of pigs in short order and it provides almost no stress at all to the pigs themselves.” He added that if we could figure out how to put every vaccine in oral, it would be done. But science isn’t quite there yet.
“I think we as veterinarians need to protect antibiotics so we can continue to use it as a valuable asset in the future. My responsibility is to teach people that have been use to using a lot antibiotics the appropriate use of antibiotics, when to use them when you need them and when not to use them when another method of control could be done.”
Dr. Eisenmenger said his idea of a complete evaluation of pig performance is centered around pigs that grow fast to maximize production, but without forgetting about the environment, our duty to be stewards of the land and of course human health. “Buried within that is the use of antibiotics in a manner that protects them for the future and we will still be able to get good productions if we look at animal health from a prevention strategy rather than a treatment and control strategy.”
Listen to my complete interview with Dr. Eisenmenger here: Interview with Dr. Mike Eisenmenger, Swine Vet Center
View photos from the event here: 2015 BIVI Leman Media Event