Holdings Sustainability Report 2022 FINAL - Flipbook - Page 15
PIGS
Simplified Health
“What is the health status of my farm?” This seemingly should not be a difficult question to answer,
but unfortunately it is not that simple. We believe it is time to change that and simplify the way we
communicate farm health status in the future.
Swine health classification schemes exist to provide a framework for producers and veterinarians to
accurately describe the status of animals to a specific disease and guide health management strategies.
Today, we have many more classification systems and complex levels for each disease than we ever had
in the past as our knowledge about swine disease continues to advance.
Ultimately, how does this help our ability to improve pig health for the farmer? While we have made
strides in using disease knowledge and classification for pathogen elimination or control strategies,
the complexity has created a gap in communication. There is value in simplifying how we think of and
represent pig health status to better achieve the goal: is the health of my farm and my pigs what I
should be striving for to be successful? Starting in 2023, we seek to do that through a Simple Health
classification system.
In PIPESTONE sow farms today, we define
status for five diseases: PRRS, Mycoplasma
hyopneumoniae, Enteric Coronavirus (PEDV),
Influenza, and highly-pathogenic bacteria.
The Simple Health system involves only three
health levels, defined by the colors Green,
Yellow, and Red. The farm status is defined by
the health of the pigs for each of these five
diseases above, collectively.
This refinement in how we think and talk
about pig health status will be refreshing. It will enhance understanding of the true issues in suboptimal
farms, along with guide appropriate health management strategies. We fortunately have tools such as
disease control and elimination strategies, vaccines, and antibiotics that are effective at reducing disease
in Yellow and Red farms and providing a good outcome. We believe this is a step forward in health
management and helping farmers today create the farms of the future.
2022 Annual and Sustainability Report
15