In this scoping review recently published in the journal Animals, Dr. Schambow and colleagues from the Center for Animal Health and Food Safety at the University of Minnesota review veterinary use and access as well as disease surveillance practices in small swine herds across the United States.
Take-away messages
- The literature available on this topic is limited (9 peer-reviewed studies and 8 study reports included in the review)
- Deworming was the most common intervention compared to vaccination or antimicrobial use.
- Pig vaccination rates varied with breeding herds being more often vaccinated than growing pigs.
- Antimicrobial use was highly variable from 1.6% to 40%.
- 25% to 86% of the surveyed farms were using a veterinarian.
- Overall, small-scale producers were not extremely familiar with Foreign Animal Diseases and most were confident that their farms were protected from infectious diseases.
Abstract
The recent spread of foreign animal diseases (FADs) such as foot-and-mouth disease and African swine fever emphasizes the need to conduct comprehensive surveillance to detect a potential disease introduction as soon as possible. The United States is currently free of many important FADs of swine, and many preparedness initiatives have raised awareness amongst the commercial, intensive swine industry. However, the awareness and engagement of small-scale swine farmers regarding disease surveillance and passive reporting is not well known. This scoping review was conducted to identify and characterize sources of evidence on the practices and attitudes of small-scale swine farmers and owners in the United States regarding pig health and disease management, surveillance, and veterinary care use, and secondarily to characterize information seeking and communication behaviors. Sources of evidence were found through keyword searches of online databases, citation matching, and Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education project reports. Eligibility criteria included being conducted on or with US small-scale (defined in this review as less than 1000 pigs) or non-intensive swine farms and containing information pertinent to the objectives of the review. Seventeen sources were included in the final review. Regular disease monitoring and surveillance practices were not commonly reported, and multiple sources reported little to no incidence of disease occurrence in small-scale swine farms. Reported veterinary use and access was variable, and multiple sources reported that the choice to use veterinary care was affected by its perceived cost, value, and accessibility. Future research and outreach should aim to discern key factors affecting farmer’s decisions to use a veterinarian, improve their awareness and prioritization of swine diseases, and develop small-scale appropriate disease surveillance protocols. Ultimately, this will help small-scale swine farmers to protect the health of their pigs and improve FAD surveillance in the US.