The upside of a Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae (Mhp) elimination program in a down market

Discover the benefits of an Mhp elimination program in a challenging market in a video interview with Dr. David A. Baumert Click HEREOpens in a new window to watch on Feedstuffs.

Start a disease elimination program right now in the middle of a down market? How could that make sense? Dr. David Baumert, a senior technical services veterinarian with Zoetis Pork, says a down market is the perfect time to take on a disease elimination program, such as Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae. Read Dr. Baumert’s answers to related questions and more below.

How does a disease elimination program impact normal pig production practices?

The U.S. swine industry has developed a number of routine production practices to maximize pig production annually. By its nature, a disease elimination program will modify some of these normal production practices because we need to change something in order to eliminate the presence of the disease pathogen that’s currently in the herd. The degree of change or on-farm modifications will vary depending on the specific disease you are trying to tackle and specific farm system characteristics.

How does a Mhp elimination program affect normal production parameters?

An Mhp elimination program involves a herd closure period that generally lasts about eight months. The herd closure, when gilts are not allowed to enter the swine breeding herd, is obviously not a normal production practice, but it is necessary to eliminate the Mhp organism from the herd and bring the herd to a Mhp-negative status. During the closure, there are no gilt replacements for sows that are lost to mortality or culling. The gilt non-entries will produce holes in the breeding herd inventory which result in missed breeding targets, missed farrowing and, eventually, missed weaned pigs.

How significant is the effect of Mhp elimination on normal pig production?

Routine breeding herd production practices in the U.S. typically involves 50% annual gilt replacement rates or approximately 4% of the breeding herd monthly.¹ This 4% replacement rate each month is made up of both voluntary culling and sow mortality. The voluntary culling of about half of the sow attrition or 2% per month is something that producers can typically adjust and eliminate.² However, the 2% monthly replacement rate that is due to sow mortality is more difficult to manage and will create inventory holes that become a concern when we start talking about the economic cost of production.

Because new gilts are not being received during the herd closure, the breeding herd will have a 2% monthly shortage in breeding targets which will accumulate month after month for as long as gilts are not allowed to enter the breeding herd. So again, holes in the breeding herd inventory become missed breeding targets and eventually missed weaned piglet production and missed pigs for transfer or sale.

What is the economic impact of missed breeding targets month after month, and how does the current down market impact the extent of the loss?

Sow herd removal due to mortality and unavoidable culls results in a decrease in inventory by approximately 2% per month, which will be cumulative month-over-month for as long as gilt replacements are not being entered. To partially account for the 2% loss in breeding herd inventory, producers can overstock their sow farms just prior to herd closure. The overstock gilts should be sufficient to cover most of the 2% shortages in inventory during the first four months of the eight-month herd closure.

The problem becomes the second four months of the eight-month herd closure. During that time, the overstock gilts are typically no longer available, and the operation begins to run into a significant shortage in the breeding herd inventory. During months five through eight the monthly 2% loss of breeding herd inventory becomes economically important.

Mathematically, we can sum up the 2% shortage of inventory for the affected months in terms of breeding targets that gilts are not available (2% + 4% + 6% + 8%) and then continue to add 10% for the final month when gilts may arrive at the sow farm, but they’re not yet breed-eligible. If we add those percentages and divide the sum by 12, we end up with a 2.5% overall shortage in annual breeding herd targets for the sow herd.

2% + 4% + 6% + 8% + 10% / 12 = 2.5%

Using this 2.5% loss in annual breeding targets as an estimate for the loss of annual piglet production, a herd that would normally produce 25 pigs per sow per year (PSY) would now produce only 24.4 PSY.

A loss of 0.6 PSY is equivalent to a loss of $30/sow ($50/pig x 0.6 PSY) during the year that the Mhp elimination program is occurring.³

What does the effect of Mhp elimination-related missed breeding targets of 0.6 PSY mean in today’s down market?

If there’s any silver lining to a depressed market, it’s the fact that our 0.6 loss of PSY, due to missed gilt entries, missed breeding targets and eventually missed pig production, is much less significant when the value of pigs is $15 as opposed to $50 for weaned pigs.

A 0.6 PSY loss in a $15-per-weaned-pig market is only a $9 loss per sow, which is significantly less than a $30-per-sow loss that would be realized in a typical $50-weaned-pig market.

Bottom line, why is a down market the right time to consider an Mhp elimination program?

Although it may not seem intuitive at first, a down market really is a beneficial time financially for a producer to consider an Mhp elimination program because the economic loss due to missed breeding targets is significantly less than it would be in a typical market.

I’d like producers to consider this as an opportunity to begin an Mhp elimination program. If producers are ready to put an Mhp program in place and they have considered the financial benefits of doing it during a down market, I want them to be aware that their Zoetis sales and technical services teams are here to support them and can provide a customized plan as part of Zoetis’ Mhp Guardian four-step program.

The information herein is intended to provide general guidelines and not specific recommendations. Zoetis cannot guarantee their applicability or accuracy in regard to your individual circumstances. Zoetis shall not be liable for any loss arising from the use of the materials, including any loss resulting from any errors in the content contained herein, or from any actions taken in reliance thereon.