Six ways pig unit keeps health high and zinc use low

摘要

Ensuring good gut health in piglets pre-and post-weaning is the foundation for lifetime health and performance on Harper Adams University's 230-sow farrow-to-finish unit.The unit, which operates as a commercially independent enterprise and a teaching and research facility, has not used medicinal levels of zinc oxide at weaning for many years. Antibiotics use is also minimal, at 5.1mg/kg for the past quarter. The practiceof using zinc oxide is set to be banned next summer in the UKandEU.At Harper Adams, the philosophy is prevention rather than cure, with good hygiene, biosecurity, nutrition and gut health proving more cost-effective than antibiotics and other medicines.