Skip to main content

Show Pig Vaccination Schedule

 

A common question I get asked is “What should we vaccinate our pigs for and when should we do it? “ 

Before we get to the vaccine schedule, I’d like to talk about vaccines and vaccine handling a bit.  
I’m going to limit this discussion to vaccines administered by injection and leave the ones delivered by water out of the discussion for now.  There are basically two kinds of vaccine we use in pigs today. The first is modified live virus or MLV and the second are killed.

Vaccines themselves
The most common MLV is probably PRRS vaccine. It comes with two bottles one contains the dried modified live virus and the other a diluent to rehydrate it. Because these vaccines are live they must be administered quickly after rehydration and you need to avoid exposing it to disinfectants in your syringe. When you administer this to a pig the virus replicates just like an natural infection and the pig develops immunity just like it would to a natural infection. Because the virus is modified it doesn’t actually make the pig sick. PRRS vaccines are all live because in order to be effective they have to stimulate what is called cell mediated immunity. The only way we know how to get cell mediated immunity is with an MLV or natural infection. That is why all the killed PRRS vaccines are useless and the companies that marketed them commercially have all discontinued.
Killed vaccines are a little more complicated. Because the viruses or bacteria do not replicate the vaccine has to stimulate the immune system in other ways to get an immune response.  So in addition to the antigen itself the vaccine contains a carrier and an adjuvant. The adjuvant stimulates the immune system to process the antigen and develop immunity. Killed vaccines also tend to contain fairly large amounts of the antigen itself which also stimulates the immune system.  It is because of the carriers and the adjuvants that mixing killed vaccines together is not a good idea. You can either limit the ability of the immune system to process one or more of the antigens or the “overdose” of adjuvants and different carriers will greatly increase the chance of bad reactions which may even kill pigs. That said there are a few vaccines that are labeled to be mixed together. A specific example of vaccines that can be mixed are BI's Mycoflex and Circoflex. 
 
Vaccine Handling
Everything you need to know about vaccine handling you already know if you know how to handle beer. The cardinal rule is don’t do anything to a vaccine that you would not do to your beer.  Here are a few examples.
You know that letting beer sit in the sun makes it go bad so protect your vaccines from light as well.
 Just like some beer vaccines may be better at room temperature so letting a vaccine get to room temperature before you use it can help reduce vaccine reactions.
You wouldn’t mix Sam Adams and Budweiser together before you drank them so why would you mix vaccines?
You wouldn’t open a beer, drink half of it, and then let the other half sit in the frig for a month before you finish it so don’t do that with your vaccine either.
 
Vaccination Schedules

Pigs:

There are 6 essential vaccines every show pig should receive either before they are sold or shortly after receiving in the show barn. 

Viral: PRRS, Influenza, and circovirus
Bacterial: Erysipelas, mycoplasma, ileitis 

Influenza needs to be administered after the pigs are 9-10 weeks old so the maternal immunity has waned. 

Popular posts from this blog

Bloody Back, Cracked Back, Dippity Pig

Whatever name you've heard used this syndrome is a common problem in show pigs and something we get asked about almost daily.  What is it: Pigs that develop painful bloody sores on the back, hind end weakness, and fever.  It tends to be sudden onset so your pig may be fine at evening chores and have a bloody painful back by the next morning.  The “dipping” that people observe is a reaction the pig has to pain in its back. That reaction is responsible for the “dippity pig” name. On a personal note, I can’t tell you how much that silly name grates my nerves so you’ll only hear us calling it bloody or cracked back.    The following picture is a pig that is affected just before he was treated. His temp was 103.5 and he ate about 1/3 of his feed.  What Causes it:  The first thing I want to say is no one knows for certain the cause. But here are some of the theories.  Some folks want to look at existing swine diseases and apply it to this syndrome.  A couple of the common things that fol
Read more

Ulcers in Show Pigs

 One of the topics that always come up are ulcers in show pigs.  There are some infectious diseases that cause vomiting along with scours and certain mycotoxins can cause vomiting.  With those exceptions when you see a show pig vomiting they almost certainly have a gastric ulcer.  So what are the causes of gastric ulcers?      1. Anything that makes pigs go off feed.         2. Feed that is too small particle size. (Ground too fine)     3. Vitamin E/ Selenium deficiency     4. Copper toxicity     5. Significant parasite load  Helicobacter pylori is often found in the mucus lining of the pig stomach and is believed to be an infectious component of gastric ulcers in pigs. Of the five common causes we listed by far the most common one is anything that makes a pig go off feed.  In studies that were meant to measure the effect of out of feed events in finishing pigs they found that about 80% of otherwise healthy pigs that were out of feed for 24 hours developed ulcers. When they extended th
Post a Comment
Read more

What You Need in Your Show Pig Medicine Cabinet

One of the frequent things I get asked is what medications show pig families should have on hand. Administering medications to food animals is serious business and proper care should be taken to use the right product at the right time the right way. Make sure that people that are doing so are properly trained and keep appropriate records. The goal here is not to replace the advice you get from your veterinarian. Some of the drugs that we will discuss are prescription and some you will use extra label so your relationship with your local veterinarian is critical. This is meant to provide some baseline information on a few common medications and how they are used.  Before we get to the medications let’s talk equipment. Having the right gear is mission critical and will save you time, money, and frustration.   Syringes: I really like the nylon syringes Ardes is one common brand for giving individual animal treatments. The fit in your hand and are lots easier than try
Read more