Keeping your pig herd healthy is crucial as it can make or break your farming operation. Looking at the health of the herd collectively is of the utmost importance as one mistake or disease can affect not just one pig, but the whole group.
In this Farmer’s Inside Track podcast episode, Dr Sakhumuzi “Sakhi” Nkosi, a technical veterinarian at Afrivet, shares the importance of pig herd health and how health is not just the absence of infectious diseases.
Several factors are in play
He talks about how the state of an animal’s health is determined by how well it can carry out its essential duties, why growth and reproduction, genetics, nutrition, the environment, and natural animal resilience matter.
“Pig herd health is when we look at the health status of the whole herd as opposed to looking at the health of one pig in the system. We consider diseases that can affect the whole herd as a group and from that information we derive systems, strategies, and programmes to help us optimise the health and production of the pigs,” he says.
Do you have a unique health programme?
Did you know that each farm should have its own unique formulated pig herd health programme? Yep, it’s not a copy-and-paste business and in the episode, he explains why.
Raising pigs in tight spaces is also covered and why this is not ideal.
“Farmers are eventually forced to increase their capacity on small lands, having a large number of pigs in small spaces and that can be a vector and a super spreader for many diseases,” he says.
In this episode, Nkosi also discusses:
- Increasing your knowledge of pig diseases; and
- Prevention methods.
Catching up with a #SoilSista
The #SoilSistas are back! Beauty Sibiya, a poultry farmer joins the episode to share her farming journey and what it means to be a part of Corteva Agriscience’s 2023 programme, in partnership with the GIBS Entrepreneurship Academy and Food For Mzansi.
Want to know more? Listen to the full episode of Farmer’s Inside Track.
Option 1: Click here to listen on Spotify (all mobile and other devices).
Option 2: Click here to listen on any Apple device.
Option 3: Click here to listen on Google Podcast.
Enjoyed reading? Tell us why with a quick 5-min survey!
Sign up for Farmer’s Inside Track: Join our exclusive platform for new entrants into farming and agri-business, with newsletters and podcasts.
