Impact of sow herd vaccination against Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Virus type 1 (PRRSV-1) on reproductive performance on a one-site farm in Serbia

  • 10 minutes
  • News in Expertise article
  • Zdravko Tomić, Vladan Miljković, Radoslav Štulić, Rebecca Morgenstern
Add to my reading list Remove from my reading list

Zdravko Tomić1, Vladan Miljković1, Radoslav Štulić2, Rebecca Morgenstern3

(1) Boehringer Ingelheim Serbia d.o.o. (2) Pig farm Zalivno polje – Pik Bečej (3) Boehringer Ingelheim RCV GmbH & Co KG, Animal Health RCV

 

Background and Objectives

PRRSV can cause significant impact on reproductive performance in endemically infected herds. This study aimed to investigate sow performance before and after implementation of a sow herd vaccination against PRRSV on a farm in Serbia.

Material & Methods

The study was conducted on a farrow-to-finish farm with 2300 sows producing with weekly batch farrowing. The producer was dissatisfied with low farrowing rate with high variation (x±SD=77.8%±3.4). Diagnostics confirmed the presence of PRRSV. No PRRS vaccination was implemented prior to this study.

Vaccination started in October 2018 with double mass vaccination (four weeks apart) of the breeding herd, including gilts over 150 days of age, with ReproCyc PRRS EU®. Vaccination of the sow herd was repeated every 3 months. Performance data of sows inseminated from October 2018 onwards was collected over a period of 7 months after the start of the vaccination programme (last insemination April 2019, last farrowing August 2019) and compared with the same period one year before. No other changes in vaccination programmes or major changes in management, feeding or housing were implemented during the observational period.

Results

PRRS vaccinated sows (vac) had a significantly higher pregnancy rate (xvac=92% vs. x=87.9%, p=0.023) and farrowing rate (xvac=83.4% vs. x=77.8%, p=0.023) and significantly lower returns to oestrus (xvac=4.6% vs. x=8.8%, p=0.007). Live-born piglets per litter did not differ significantly before and after the implementation of PRRS vaccination (xvac=10.4 vs. x=10.2, p=0.303).

Discussion & Conclusion

The results show a positive impact of sow herd vaccination against PRRSV on the performance of the sows. Based on the farrowing rate and the number of live-born piglets only the farm produced 2979 live-born piglets extra. In relation to the cost of sow herd vaccination, every extra piglet has to be worth at least € 4.60 only to equal out the investment.