SWINE '95 PART II: REFERENCE OF 1995 U.S. GROWER/FINISHER HEALTH AND MANAGEMENT PRACTICES

This report is the second of a three-part release of national information from the second National Animal Health Monitoring System (NAHMS) swine study, the Swine '95 Grower/Finisher. The 1990 National Swine Survey focused on farrowing sows and preweaning piglets. For the Swine '95 Study, the USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) collaborated with Veterinary Services (VS) to select a producer sample that was statistically designed to provide inferences to the nation's swine population. Data collected for the study represented the top 16 pork states and nearly 91 percent of the U.S. hog inventory, as well as nearly three fourths of the nation's pork producers. Data for this report were collected from 418 producers whose operations had 300 or more market hogs, including at least one of 120 or more pounds. The most frequent reason for switching pigs in the grower/finisher phase from one type of diet to the next was weight; number of diets fed was likely to increase as the size of an operation increased. Percent operations feeding different diets to males and females also increased as the size of an operation increased. Over 92 percent of grower/finisher pigs received preventive/growth promotant antibiotics in feed. Agents most frequently used were bacitracin (52 percent of operations) and chlortetracycline (41 percent of operations). The most frequent source of grower/finisher pigs was on-site farrowing and nursery units (77 percent of operations). The most frequently diagnosed disease in breeding herds was porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS, 17 percent of operations). The most frequently diagnosed disease in nursery pigs was Escherichia coli (21 percent of operations). Thirty-eight percent of grower/finisher deaths were due to respiratory problems. The per-pig average feed efficiency was 3.24 lbs fed/lb gained. Sixty-five percent of operations marketed pigs directly to a slaughter plant buying station. Contact for this paper: Eric Bush