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New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume 73, Issue 6, 16 December 1946, Page 499

For the benefit of 'those who are too far a away from a works or bacon factory to follow their own pigs through, or to attend one of the popular pig field days at the works, here are some of the abbreviations likely to appear on a killing sheet and notes on causes , and parts condemned. For advice on avoiding or curing these conditions the farmer should not hesitate to consult his local Departmental veterinarian or stock inspector.-

T. or T.B.Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis is a chronic contagious disease, characterised by progressive emaciation.. The symptoms, however, are varied as the sites in which the lesions of the . disease are found. Most pigs show no evidence of the disease during life, as they are killed before the emaciation stage is reached. In fact,, at times T.B. seems to stimulate growth and wellbeing, as some of the fattest young pigs are seriously affected with the disease in its widespread or generalised form. .

It is difficult to spot T.B. during life in pigs, but in some cases the glands under the jaw or ear are swollen enough to impede movement of the head. The glands may rupture externally and discharge thick, cheesy pus. Lung affection is usually indicated by a short, suppressed cough, later becoming more frequent, with retching and distressed, breathing. Abdominal affection may be indicated by a loose hanging tail, anarched back, and the pig ’lying or crouching in a corner on his own and resisting movement. However, few pigs live long enough to show definite symptoms and those they do show can be confused with half a dozen other troubles.

Boars and sows should be watched carefully for symptoms such as coughing, wasting, swollen glands, and abscesses on the udder, as they may easily spread infection to the herd. '

■Fourteen per cent, of all pigs killed in New Zealand are affected with ■ tuberculosis; .1.5 per cent, are so seriously affected that they have to be wholly . condemned ■ for generalised T. 8., and 12.5 per cent, are partly condemned. The majority of these are headless pigs— with the z gland below the jaw (the submaxillary) affected. The affection may be a yellowish spot about the size of a pin’s head, or -the whole' gland may be swollen to the size of a potato. These headless pigs are . exportable subject to a vigorous check inspection of every accessible gland or organ. Generally 99 per cent, of affected pigs have head and throat lesions, the bowels , are affected in 37 per cent, of cases, liver 31. per cent., stomach 17 per cent., spleen 16 per cent., kidney

1 per cent., and backbone .7 per cent, or lower. Every pig is judged on its merits, all organs .being; examined; by a system of fags and pins the. final inspector can weigh up all the evidence. On reaching Britain these carcasses are subjected to a percentage examination as rigorous as in New Zealand, and it says a great deal for Dominion methods that few, if any, carcasses are condemned in Britain. The usual practice of freezing companies is to deduct 10 per cent, of the carcass weight for a condemned head and pay for this weight, say 10 to 201 b., at a reduced rate. The .commonest source of infection with tuberculosis is raw. skim-milk from tuberculous cows, but. pastures contaminated by T.B. cows or their

discharges, and old, muddy, ■ infected pens may be responsible. Tuberculous sows. may be' the cause of whole litters not reaching more than baconer weight. In manure on pastures the tubercle bacillus may live about 8 months, but sunlight destroys' it in a few hours; hence the need to keep pig pens' and their surroundings as clean as possible. Dirt and mud. afford excellent protection from sunlight.for not only the tubercle bacillus but dozens of other bacteria and organisms harmful to pigs. P. or PL—Pleurisy - Pleurisy is an inflammation of the smooth, glistening covering of the lungs, and chest wall,' and . is usually

associated with pneumonia. Fourteen per cent, of all pigs reaching the works have, at one time during their lives, suffered from pleurisy to such an extent that they have to be trimmed to be suitable for export; despite all careful trimming 1 per cent, have to be rejected.

Acute .or active pleurisy, in which the animal is fevered, brings complete condemnation. Any fevered carcass, if passed for human consumption, might give rise to food poisoning. In the majority of cases, however, the pleura is thickened and the lungs adhere' to the chest wall, indicating that the pig has had an attack and has recovered. These adhesions are carefully trimmed up, wiped, and, if possible, removed. If, however, the pleura has to be “stripped” or is damaged or thickened, the forequarter must be rejected. If pus is present the carcass is con-, demned as a protection from food poisoning. .

Reject ’ price is only part of the loss, as any pig which has had a setback in its growth because of pleurisy is miserable and coughing for some time and requires more food to bring it to market weight than litter mates which escaped infection. .

The high incidence of pleurisy is caused by the pig’s vitality being lowered and consequent invasion by the Pasteurella organism. This is a common bacteria of the healthy pig’s lung, but when . resistance is lowered it makes good its opportunity’ and seizes all the space it can, growing out . of all proportion to its normal numbers. The same thing 'happens to humans when they have coughs and colds.

> Unbalanced rations, poor or dirty housing, and muddy, ill-drained runs with no shelter from rain, wind, or

sun all lower resistance and" invite high losses from unthrifty pigs, pneumonia,', and pleurisy.

Pe., Pr., or Per.—Peritonitis

Peritonitis is inflammation of the peritoneum or smooth, glistening membrane surrounding and enclosing all the organs and walls of the abdominal cavity. Thickening and adhesions are again present and the membrane, with all the fat immediately under it,. has to be stripped out.

Infection from faulty castration, travelling back up the stump of the cord, the covering of which is a, continuation of ' the . peritoneum, seems to' be one the major causes of peritonitis. Internal parasites migrating through the walls of the intestine and boring into the liver and kidney carry putrefactive and pus-forming bacteria from- the intestines which may give rise to peritonitis of varying severity, depending on the mass of infection and the . health of the pig.

Lowered resistance, which leads to pleurisy caused by Pasteur organisms, ,can also cause the suipestifer bacteria,' found in the intestines of healthy pigs, to grow out of bounds, which results in enteritis or inflammation of the intestine, with scouring and loss of condition, or death. Again the resulting peritonitis is ’ not the greatest loss; it is the number of pigs that remain unthrifty,. if they live, and use extra feed and time to reach baconer or porker weight. Unbalanced rations, parasites, faulty castration, contaminated surroundings, bought-in pigs carrying suipestifer and contaminating the troughs, water supply, and runs, all help to upset the delicate balance between health and low-'? . ered resistance.

A. > or —Abscess I-

An abscess is a closed cavity containing pus, which may be found in any ' part of the carcass. The whole pig . may have to be condemned or rejected, according to the situation and degree of infection. If the carcass becomes contaminated with pus while being dressed it must be condemned, as the risk of food poisoning from pus-producing, bacteria: is' very high. Some of the worst outbreaks in the history of food poisoning have been caused by pus-contaminated meat or meat products. Dirt is again a likely . source Jof infection— staggy pigs, barbed wire, protruding; nails, broken glass, loose sheets of iron, or old farm machinery.

Any infected and neglected cut or tear, however small, can give rise to an abscess if not treated. Keep a supply of a good disinfectant on hand, open up all abscesses, and allow them to drain and heal. More important, of, course,. is to avoid the causes of cuts, scratches, or irritation. Keep' the pigs free from lice, clear the pens and runs of dangerous sharp obstructions, and do not use the pig runs as a junk yard for worn-out trucks, discarded discs, or old wire and ironJMH

Ar. or Arthritis

Arthritis is inflammation of a joint, which is usually full of discoloured synovia (joint-oil) and swollen. "More hams are condemned or partly condemned for this condition than for anything else. Occasionally the pig is in poor condition, with the joints of all four legs affected; then it is wholly condemned, the condition .being called polyarthritis.

Dirty navel cords in. young pigs often lead to infection of the joints,

which swell and may become septic and burst. A safe plan is to clean the cords with 'iodine if conditions are muddy or if this trouble has' occurred on the farm with previous litters. The organism Erysipelothrix rhusicpathiae, the causal organism of swine erysipelas, fortunately, for some as yet unknown • reason, does not give rise in New Zealand to many outbreaks of the acute, type, with diamond-shaped red or purple patches on. the skin, fever, lameness, heart trouble, or death; but it does cause much arthritis. These cases present. swollen and inflamed joints, some of which may clear up but a great many of which remain to cause condemnation of the affected leg or carcass in the works.

Well-fed, well-housed pigs with good runs can recover quite well from an attack and it does not seem to worry them unduly, but the pig with low powers of resistance falls an easy victim and becomes permanently crippled.

The Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae can live and multiply in a warm or temperate climate and in muddy, wet yards, and is very hard- to eliminate. In fact, if the soil is contaminated badly, the best plan is to shift the pig yards, as the organism. can build up to the stage of causing serious epidemics with severe losses. Britain and America, with old-established pig pens and pig lots, have to use vaccines and serums against swine erysipelas as 1 a regular part of pig-rearing; New Zealand should profit by their experience and take no unnecessary risks with ■this'organism.

Bruising, spraining, mineral and vitamin deficiencies, and rickets may also cause swollen joints.

F.C.—Faulty Castration

. A swelling at the site of the operation on the ends of the spermatic cords is usually evidence of faulty castration. Some pigs have large swellings which may discharge pus. The infection can spread to the abdominal cavity and give rise to varying degrees of peritonitis, of the 'scar tissue may be the only seat of abscess formation. The swollen spermatic cords must be cut out, thus spoiling the hams for freezing, apart from the Tact that when conditions return -to normal Britain will not accept hams that' are badly cut into. If abscess formation .is present, the carcass may have to be condemned or partly condemned, according to the severity and spread through the body.

Castrate pigs when they are 3 or 4 weeks old, and try to select good weather and dry surroundings so that mud or dirty rainwater draining down the pig’s back does not enter the wounds. Pigs castrated when about a month old are not badly set back.

The site of the incision should be washed, with antiseptic and soap, instruments should be clean and kept clean, and the incision made low so that no pocket is left and drainage is free, as pockets provide an ideal site for bacteria to grow and multiply, and give rise to abscesses, ' peritonitis, .or schirrous cord. The incision should be about 1 to ljin. long. Do not use harsh

corrosive antiseptics, as they do. more harm than good. There are plenty of mild but efficient antiseptics for this job and they are worth a little extra in cost; acriflavine (is as good as any. Sell as light porkers all pigs with retained testicle or testicles. . The reason for this is given in the following paragraph.

S.O.—Sexual Odour

Under the heading “sexual odour” are listed pigs from which only one testicle has been removed and those with both testicles retained in the abdominal cavity, thus leaving the pig with all the characteristics of the boar. If the pig is not killed at the light porker. stage, the odour of the boar condemns the pig when it comes to the baconer class. No matter how bacon from a “rig” pig is treated, boiling or frying will always bring out the odour. - '

Again feed is wasted, and a rig pig causes a lot. of damage in a truck of pigs by bites and bruises. At the. light porker stage the odour is not strong enough to condemn the carcass and the rig has not fully "developed his fighting propensities.

Cull boars, if castrated, fattened, and sent in as choppers, should be allowed at least two months from the time .of the. operation for the. odour to be eliminated; otherwise they are likely to. be condemned. Cull boars, treated properly, provide a useful source of sausage meat, which is in short supply at present. ' ■

S.D. or —Skin Disease

! Any disease or skin defect whicl damages the skin is listed as “skit disease.” As the meat of the pig ii sold with the skin on, the pelt mus be clean and free from blemish. However good the body type, the eye o; meat, the back fat, and other factor; may be, any skin defect, especially it porkers, necessitates the skinning o: the affected area and the automatic rejection or degrading of the carcass from exportable to sausage or smallgoods meata serious drop in value. Baconers after being singed and scraped can be peeled to a minor degree and small blemishes camouflaged away. - . ,

Mange (rarely), lice, sunburn, and urticaria or food. rashes are the chief offenders.

Mange is a notifiable disease under the Stock Act, and the local veterinarian or stock inspector should be notified if it is suspected.- Intense irritation, . pigs losing condition as they constantly rub and scratch and have no peace, and crusts or scabs behind the ears and shoulders are all symptoms of mange. The parasite cannot be seen with the naked eye; skin scrapings must be examined under a microscope to confirm suspicion. However,

this disease is rare and. mild infestations will respond to the treatment advised for lice.

Four or five inches of waste motor oil floating on the surface of a dip or applied, by hand every 10 days will soon destroy lice. A sack soaked in motor oil and tied around a post which is accessible to the pigs provides scratch and cure in one.

Sunburn is serious in white-skinned jtigsif.no shelter is provided in midsummer. The skin cracks, scabs form, and if subjected to frequent attacks, the skin becomes horny and warty. Dressing with waste engine oil and lampblack will help considerably,' but shelter is the main essential; A mudwallow may protect the pig from the sun, but infection picked up in old wallows may cause abscesses or, worse still, Spirochaetal necrosis, which will be described under “wounds.” •

Urticaria resembles a nettle rash in which the tender parts of the skin, belly, behind the ears, and crutch are reddened and inflamed. In the main this is caused by digestive upsets and unsuitable rations.

Constipation . or scouring must be watched for as early indications of faulty, diet. A few doses of Epsomsalt or liquid paraffin may relieve the constipation, but the diet should be changed as well and a run-off on pasture allowed. If scouring is present, check up on the troughs to see that they are clean and sweet. Dose the pigs with castor oil, reduce the feed for a day or two, and provide access to good, clean grass.

Decayed town garbage must be eliminated and dirty skim or whey pipes cleaned out or renewed. Sudden changes of feed may precipitate digestive upsets.

N. or —Nephritis

Nephritis is inflammation of the kidney. If it is active and the pig fevered, the carcass is condemned. Usually.the kidneys are pitted or scarred. by a previous attack or by the migrations of internal parasites. The kidneys are removed and condemned, and if pus is present, the whole carcass must be condemned. Food poisoning has been traced to the consumption of meat from an animal with a kidney abscess.

Suipestifer is the common organism found. Parasites in young porkers leave their mark on the kidneys. Feeding and housing must be attended to; foul skim pipes, decayed town offal, and draughty, dirty quarters must all be eliminated.

The kidneys of pigs form a valuable export, but only about 60 per cent, are exportable, the rest being condemned with the carcass in cases of T. 8., etc., removed for nephritis scars, or so affected with

hydatids that they must be condemned; 640,000 New Zealand pig kidneys were condemned last year. With each kidney weighing about 40z., 160,0001 b. of kidney was lost l .

Wounds Scar tissue may cause rejection of part of a carcass . because of unsightly puckering and contraction of the skin in healing. Septic wounds condemn part or whole of a carcass, depending on the j site and severity. Abscess formation, dealt with under that heading, may be present. Scratches may become infected with Spirochaetes, , organisms found in wet, muddy pens and runs. These organisms, cause ulcerating skin lesions of varying size and severity, according to the length of time .they have been neglected. The ulcer, called Spirochaetal necrosis, spreads out like ringworm, causing a black slimy mess raised slightly at its borders and oozing evil-smelling pus.. Pigs arrive at the works with these skin sores up to 12in. in diameter. If such sores are thoroughly cleaned with warm soap and water and dusted with tartar emetic at weekly intervals, they will clean up satisfactorily. Be, very careful using tartar emetic, as it is very poisonous and must not be allowed to contaminate water or feed.

Pointed . objects, staggy pigs, dog bites, etc., are the causes of cuts,’which become infected from dirty yards. Dress all cuts and scratches and .watch out for ulcers. Above all, eliminate the causes of scratches and wounds before trouble starts.

B.—-Bruises Bruises, if at all extensive, must be thoroughly trimmed out and explored. A small skin blemish may . lead to . a pocket of congealed blood and torn muscles the size of a saucer., This, of course, disfigures the carcass and condemns the part. Bruising may be severe enough to justify condemning the whole . carcass if the animal is fevered and in a bad toxic condition.

The cause is obviously rough handling in trucking—kicking arid hitting with the handiest piece of wood about the place. A piece of wet canvas about 3ft. long and a foot wide, folded up to about 3in. wide, will act as a good coaxer; it makes lots of noise, scares the pig along, and does little damage. Overcrowding in narrow loading races or pens leads to pigs going, down and being severely bruised by other pigs scrambling over them.

If pigs are handled well at the farm end, and returns still come back showing bruising, check up and see that old choppers or stags were not loaded in with the baconers or porkers. The freezing companies and bacon factories will be glad to help prevent bruising; it is to their advantage, too. The carrier may not know how to handle pigs , or may be in a hurry, but they are .the farmer’s pigs and it . is his cheque that is affected.

Py.— Pyaemia

The term pyaemia is applied when pus-producing -.organisms invade the bloodstream from some suppurating focus and are carried all over the body, giving rise to multiple abscesses in the muscles, kidneys, liver, lung,, and brain. ' All carcasses affected must be condemned. .

. Septic /wounds, abscesses, parasites, faulty castration, septic pleurisy, and such substances as broken glass, in the food all help to put pus-producing bacteria into the bloodstream, emphasing the need to dress all cuts with antiseptic, . castrate cleanly, and prevent parasites, pleurisy, and peritonitis. Watch for dangerous foreign matter in the feed, particularly in hotel or restaurant garbage.

M.—Melanosis

Melanin, a dark brown pigment normally present in hair, skin, eyes, hooves, etc., may at times be secreted in excess by the body and be deposited in patches in the subcutaneous fat of the belly (seedy cut), or it may invade the bloodstream and multiply in the. form of tumours in any part of the body Some breeds of pigs are more prone to melanosis than others and it may be a dominant feature in the line being bred. Seedy cut lowers the value of the bacon affected,-and if it is very bad, the parts may have to be trimmed off. When it is spread over the body 'in tumour form the . carcass is condemned.

Emac. or E.— Emaciation

A pig in very poor condition with no fat on it and even the muscles wasted is described as emaciated. Natural thinness or leanness because of lack of sufficient nourishment must not be confused with emaciation, the usual cause of which is some form of chronic disease. Thin carcasses are passed,' but emaciated pigs are condemned.

W. or M.— or Milky

Cull sows sent into the works .as choppers when still in milk have the mammary glands removed and are rejected. The cure is obviously to dry them off before sending them to the works. They will be in better, condition and a better economic proposition.

Def. Deformities

Congenital deformities such as curvature of the spine and rickets come under the heading of deformities. These carcasses are rejected. Only the bones are misshapen, and the meat is perfectly fit for food if . the pig is in good condition otherwise. Congenital deformities cannot be foreseen or cured, but the pig should be eliminated as soon as it is noticed.

Rickets, is a nutritional disease of young pigs characterised by poor bone formation, twisted limbs, swollen joints, knobby ribs, curved spine, and poor teeth. ■ Vitamin D provided in green food, full milk, and cod-liver oil, in conjunction with sunlight and bone meal or bone flour, will prevent young pigs becoming rickety.

Rickety pigs are likely to fall victims of all the diseases pigs can have and are not necessarily, all “had doers.” . Some quite ■ good-looking pigs may be coarse in the joints, showing that they have a touch of rickets caused' by unbalanced diet or lack of sun, especially if they, are housed or being topped up. Cod-liver oil is invaluable in such cases in winter ; and spring if the pigs, must be housed, but two hours’ sunshine, daily in a good paddock is a good cheap preventive.

Hydatids

Hydatids is the cystic or intermediate stage of the Taenia echinococcus, a tapeworm of the dog. A pig can contract hydatids only by eating food or drinking . water containing the eggs of the tapeworm, which lives in the dog and forms' its eggs in the dog’s intestine. When ripe the eggs pass out in the , dog’s faeces and are ready to give hydatids .to animals or humans. A dog can get the tapeworm only by eating , raw meat or offals containing hydatid cysts. In the cysts are dozens of small tapeworm heads, which fasten on to the inside of the dog’s intestine, where they develop into adult form to lay more eggs, to infect more sheep with hydatids, to infect more dogs, and so on.

The tapeworm ■in the dog is only about l-3in long fully grown, so the farmer can never be sure that a dog is not infested, dogs ' must be dosed regularly. 1

About 80 per cent, of pigs are affected by hydatids and only 50 per cent, of pig livers are exportable because the others are so badly affected with cysts that they have to be condemned. This is the penalty the country must pay because 80 per cent, of farmers do not tise the arecoline tablets they pay for when registering their dogs. It is a simple story, but no more simple than some of the c*her easy ways of losing money on pigs.

Large Round Worms

Another parasite which . should be mentioned is Ascaris lumbricoides, the large round worm of the pig. It is about as thick as a pencil and up to lOin. long. These round worms cause a lot of trouble, especially in young pigs. The adult female worm lays' eggs in the intestine of . the pig; they, fall on the ground and develop into a form which will infect another pig which picks them up in food or water. They then bore from the intestine to the liver, causing peritonitis and liver damage; from there they are carried in the bloodstream to the lung, where they develop to the next' stage, causing coughing, retching, and even pneumonia. Later they are coughed up and swallowed to develop into adults in the intestine, where the female lays up to 200,000 eggs daily to- contaminate runs and pastures and infect others. Young pigs suffer most and may die if badly infected. The unborn pig may become infected from the sow’s blood;' hence the need to treat sows for. worms before farrowing.

Infection may be'so severe that the intestines are blocked with masses of worms coiled up like a ball of string. Even the bile ducts may be closed by worms, giving rise to jaundice.

On muddy, damp pastures the parasite can remain infective for years, but dry runs with plenty of sunshine will soon clean up the Ascaris if dosing is carried out regularly. Pigs can be dosed with phenothiazine,' oil of chenopodium in castor oil, ,or tetrachlorethylene, but it is as well to discuss the question with the local office of the Department of Agriculture or Swine Husbandry Instructor before starting. a dosing programme. In the meantime beware of buying in infected pigs. •

Summary Now .is the time to look to those simple things which cause rejection of pigs and do something about them before the season gets under way. Insurance schemes and Government compensation for condemned stock are only crutches for the incompetent, but, unfortunately, losses creep up on eventhe best farmers if simple precautions are neglected. 1 The advice of officers of ' the Livestock Division is freely available on all aspects of pig feeding and disease Bad killing sheets are expensive and’ disheartening, and a loss to New Zealand and Britain.