ISSUE FOCUS FEED & ADDITIVE MAGAZINE October 2023 59 Reducing late mortality Haemorrhagic Bowel Syndrome (HBS) is a condition that affects growing and fattening pigs whereby animals are found dead and, characteristically, have a pale and distended carcass with a distended intestinal tract containing unclotted blood (Fig 2). While the exacte cause is unknown, risk factors are considered to include change in social status, issues with water and feed quality and disrupted feed intake. In the USA, HBS could be responsible for up to 7% of herd mortality. Where late mortality was attributed to HBS, the inclusion of By-Oreg+ 360 reduced mortalities by up to 95% (Table 2). THE ECONOMICS OF USING BY-O-REG+ 360 IN FATTENING PIGS As mentioned earlier, there is often a perception that all natural feed additives are too expensive to deliver a return on investment in fattening pigs. In the case of HBS outbreaks in the herd, the use of By-O-reg+ 360 led to an average 32% lower medicine costs/pig. Not only is that important financially, but it is a significant step to reducing medication usage in pigs. When looking at the overall profitability per pig, the inclusion of By-O-reg+ 360 yields an increase of $7.59/pig after product costs, with a return on investment >5. Interestingly, the improved feed efficiency observed is reflected in an increase in percentage carcass leanness (approximately 1%), adding further value for the swine producer. SUMMARY Using feed additives and other alternatives to antimicrobials should play a part in the strategy of health management in fattening pigs, to help minimise the impact of disease and financial losses associated with losing animals late in production. A cost/benefit analysis should always be the first step to evaluate the value of adding an additive, rather than basing decisions on the cost of inclusion at the exclusion of overall potential benefit. Feed additives are often based on a single type of ingredient, with limited scope of activity. But if you can combine different ingredients, harness their differing and broad ranges of activity, and protect those ingredients to ensure they are efficacious where they need to be, an all-natural feed additive such as By-O-reg+ 360 can be a powerful tool to improve the economics and welfare of grow/finish pigs. About Dr David Harrington Dr David Harrington is the Managing Director at teamTWO Solutions (Denmark) and acting Monogastric Technical Manager at Advanced Ag products LLC (USA). He obtained his BSc (Hons) and MSc from Edinburgh University, UK, and his Ph.D from Newcastle University, UK researching avian immune responses to ectoparasite infections. His early career was focused on the development and commercial support of swine and poultry vaccines mainly in the EU before moving into feed additives in both commercial/strategic and technical roles globally. HBS associated mortality (%) Medicine costs/pig ($) BOR CON CON BOR Farm 1 Farm 3 3.9 3.5 0.2 1.7 15.12 1.75 12.28 0.96 Table 2. HBS associated mortality (%) and medicine costs/pig Figure 2. Haemorrhagic Bowel Syndrome
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