While all sectors within agriculture are under pressure to reduce the amount of antibiotics given to animals, government targets set for the pig industry are perhaps the most challenging of all.

The industry is believed to be using more antibiotics pro rata than any other livestock sector. That is due to various factors, including the number of pig bacterial diseases for which there are no effective vaccines, and the use of continuous housed systems which allow disease to recycle. However, the system of production historically has made it easy to medicate via feed. Human factors such as habit, and fear, also need to be addressed.

Highlighting the issues at a recent pig conference in Armagh organised by AB Vista, Georgina Crayford, senior policy adviser with the National Pig Association (NPA), said she believed that while the challenges ahead are significant, they are not insurmountable.

To set the context, Crayford pointed to growing concern about antibiotic resistance in animals, which could threaten human health. Bacteria can multiply quickly and develop resistance. But with no new classes of antibiotics developed since the 1980’s, we are rapidly running out of defences – “a discovery void” said Crayford. It means we need to preserve the efficacy of our most valuable medicines. In a world where antibiotics no longer work, operations such as caesareans or hip replacements would not be possible.

Report

A government commissioned review chaired by economist Jim O’Neill published a report on resistance in May 2016. It estimated that currently 700,000 people die every year around the world from drug-resistant strains of common bacterial infections, but that this figure could rise to 10m per year by 2050 unless action is taken.

In response to the O’Neill report the Responsible Use of Medicines in Agriculture (RUMA) Alliance (which includes, as members, various farm organisations including the UFU) published a set of sector-specific targets.

In pigs, the target, using a baseline from 2015 of 263.5mg/PCU (population corrected unit), is for a 62.4% reduction in usage to 99mg/PCU by 2020.

Already, best estimates suggest that good progress has been made, with antibiotic usage down over 30% in 2016 to 183mg/PCU. “You could argue that is the low hanging fruit. The 60% target will still be a challenge” said Crayford.

In addition, there is growing pressure from lobby groups, some of whom have an agenda opposed to intensive production systems. At the end of 2017 three British supermarket chains, Asda, Marks and Spencer, and Waitrose, published figures on the amount of antibiotics used by their farm suppliers. “They were probably reacting to these lobby groups. So the issue is now under the nose of consumers. This issue isn’t going away. It is frequently in the media. It is frequently negative.” said Crayford.

Despite that, she believes that the pig industry can significantly cut antibiotic usage, mainly by implementing good management and good husbandry. She has looked in-depth at the issue as part of a Nuffield Scholarship, visiting various countries that have successfully lowered antibiotics in pig production.

Key has been a shift in thinking among farmers from being reactive to being proactive when it comes to disease.

“Farmers should value vet time and be willing to pay for it. Think about good vet spend on things such as vaccines, diagnostics, herd health planning and biosecurity, rather than spending money on antibiotics or treating dying animals” said Crayford.

The Madec 20-point plan, originally published in 2001, is also still relevant, and can be summarised into the four key areas of:

• Limiting pig to pig contact

• Minimising stress

• Good hygiene

• Good nutrition

“So it is nothing new. I believe the knowledge is already in the room about how to reduce antibiotics in pig production” she concluded.

Antibiotic usage part of farm assurance

From 1 April 2017 it became compulsory for members of the Red Tractor pig assurance scheme to upload information on the total antibiotic used in pig units, to an electronic medicine book (e-MB) developed by the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB).

It should mean that the pig industry is the only sector within livestock production with national figures on actual usage of antibiotics, allowing realistic reduction targets to be set in future.

Zinc oxide ban by 2022

Zinc oxide is widely used across the EU to prevent and control post-weaning diarrhoea, and most starter diets in the UK currently contain zinc oxide at therapeutic levels.

However, in 2016 the European Medicines Agency’s Committee on Veterinary Medicinal Products (CVMP) concluded that the benefits of zinc oxide outweigh the risks for the environment and recommended the withdrawal of products.

The environmental risks mainly relate to concerns that zinc could be building up in soil as a result of slurry spreading, bringing the risk than zinc gets into watercourses.

In June 2017 the European Commission (EC) voted in favour of a ban on the veterinary use of zinc oxide, with a transition time of a maximum of 5 years to phase out the product. It means zinc oxide is out of diets in 2022.

The main concern from industry is that the ban could lead to increased antibiotic usage to control post-weaning disease associated with E. coli and salmonella.

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