L. Kirk Clark Purdue University

Publish Date: September 18, 2006

Purdue University 1996 Swine Research Report. Management programs for improving the health status of pigs have been developed and are being refined. Examples of these technologies include all-in, all-out production, offsite nurseries and grow-finish units, and medicated early weaning programs. These health management programs produce differences in the duration and intensity of individual and combined diseases as well as the animal's immune system response to antigens. In most cases, immune system responses are a reflection of the disease status. The effects of initial antigen exposure and of the disease must be separated and evaluated to make further refinements in commercial production health management programs. Two trials have been conducted to evaluate the impact of immune system activation via antigenic challenge on pig growth.

Publish Date: June 3, 2006

Designing and communicating health strategies for herds of animals requires a very different approach than those used for individual animals. This fact sheet serves as an introduction to the herd health section of the Handbook and provides an overview of health maintenance and disease prevention strategies used to manage herds of animals. It provides fundamental terms commonly used to communicate health issues, reviews basic factors that confound disease diagnostics, and reviews techniques that can be used to estimate health and disease costs within populations of pigs.