Antibiotic Usage - Our European Observations

ANTIBIOTIC USAGE – OUR EUROPEAN OBSERVATIONS

Chad Smith

College of Veterinary Medicine

North Carolina State University

Raleigh, NC 27695-8401

The Pig Health and Production group at the North Carolina State University-College of Veterinary Medicine offers a two-week course to study international pork production abroad. The group has offered the course the past two years and reserved it for NCSU veterinary students who maintain a strong interest in the swine industry. Last year’s international swine production group consisted of eight veterinary students, and was focused on the Danish Swine Industry. In previous years, other European countries such as Germany and The Netherlands have been visited.

Denmark is 8^th in the world in total pig production. There are 23.8 million hogs produced annually in Denmark, and are increasing. However, as land area for manure application is limited; Denmark is beginning to face a major problem in future expansion. All the farms in Denmark are family owned, and there is a 3-farm limit to the number of farms one farmer may own. Denmark exports nearly 85% of all their production, with 15% staying in the domestic market. Primary export markets include Sweden, Germany, the UK, France, Japan, and Russia. There is no corporate structure in Denmark as in the United States. Of the 23.8 million pigs produced, 20.1 million are owned by a cooperative of farmers known as Danske, or Danbred in the United States, 0.8 are privately owned, and 1.3 million are exported live, mostly to Germany, to finish out.

Most of the Danish farms are two-site systems, with farrow to wean (30kg) and wean to finish (77-90kg). Production values of the top 25% producing farms was presented to the student group by a representative of the Danish Bacon and Meat Company. Average production values were 11.9 liveborn, 23.4 weaned/yr., 12.8 nursing (prewean) mortality, 85 days of age to 30kg, 172 days to 77kg. Finishing mortality is 3.4%. These values have increased since the removal of growth promoting antibiotics, and is thought to be due to an increase in disease, particularly ileitis, Lawsonia intracellularis.

The breeding nucleus is composed of Landrace, Large White, Duroc, and Hampshire breeds. There are about 50 nucleus herds, with 250 multipliers, and 30,000 production sites. The average farm size is 300 sows, but the population is currently on the rise with the building of new, larger units. The main focus of the industry has been consistency of size and quality of pig.

Each farmer in the cooperative is responsible for providing the land, facilities, feed, labor, and the swine. The producer may choose to buy pigs or genetics from any source, but the slaughter plants owned by cooperative only accept pigs that follow the cooperatives genetic line and health standards. The only option left to noncompliant farmers would be to slaughter outside Denmark, so most producers choose to join the cooperative and use their standards and genetic lines. Every contract between a slaughter company and a producer has the same requirements and pricing. The payment per carcass is based heavily on lean yield percentage. The contract requires the producer to deliver all of the pigs they produce to the slaughter plant and the plant agrees to accept them.

With about 90% of the Danish farms belonging to the Danish cooperative, the Danish cooperative experiences a tremendous power with economy of scale. The production records for the cooperative is kept by Danske Slaughter. Also, as foreign markets ask for new product designs, the cooperative changes standards and enforces new standards that will meet the requests. It also allows for individual farmers to compare their production records to the national averages, without genetics being a confounding factor. The disease status of each farm is also known throughout the cooperative and is used to increase the strength of their biosecurity programs.

Antagonists of antimicrobial use in livestock offer the Danish swine industry as a model, especially to US producers. In 1999, the use of sub-therapeutic antimicrobials became forbidden. A major goal of the Danish industry was to reduce the number of resistant bacteria emerging. Currently, the only way a producer may obtain any antibiotics is through a prescription by their veterinarian. Veterinarians are restricted from marketing antibiotics in an attempt to keep the prices standardized for farmers. Producers are responsible for recording each use of an antibiotic. A veterinarian is required to visit the farm every 35 days and inventory all the antibiotics on the farm. Each bottle must be marked and the inventory recorded by the veterinarian. The inventory is compared with the previous month’s records to determine the amount of antimicrobials used. This is then compared to the producer’s records to assure all drugs have been accounted for. The strict monitoring of antibiotic usage is very time consuming and requires good records. It also requires that every farm have a veterinary visit once a month. This leads to many job opportunities and reflects the concern of the lack of swine practitioners graduating from the KVL and beginning practice in Denmark.

With the use of growth promoters being banned, there has been a drastic decrease in the total amount of antimicrobials being used. Therapeutic use has accordingly been on the rise over the last couple of years, but is felt to be leveling off. (Figure 1.) Most farmers and veterinarians feel that the rise in therapeutic use is due to the increasing problems the Danish industry is seeing with Lawsonia intracellularis. According to the Danish Bacon and Meat Council, the Danish industry has seen no significant decrease in production statistics since the ban on growth promoters. All farmers or veterinarians that the student group contacted did not express this sentiment. The general consensus appeared to be that the farms with the best health status appeared to handle the ban better than other farms. After visiting several sites, the student group felt the Danish farms held a therapeutic inventory comparable to what was expected on U.S. farms.

Figure 1. Trend in usage of antimicrobials for growth promotion (AGP) and therapy in food animals, Denmark (Danmap, 2000).

Table 1. Trends in the estimated total usage of antimicrobials for treatment of food animals. Data 1 Use of antibiotics in pig production. Federation of Danish pig producers and slaughterhouses. N.E. Ronn (Ed.). Data 1996-2000: Danish Medicines Agency.

A goal of the ban was to decrease the emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in pigs that might transfer to humans. DANMAP 2000 is the Danish system that accounts current bacterial resistance patterns from fecal samples and final meat products at slaughter. DANMAP 2000 is inconclusive to show whether the ban has produced any results in bacterial resistance patterns. There is controversy concerning the time period that should pass after the ban before a decline in resistance is noted. Another goal of the ban was to create a niche market for Danish products. Antibiotic use in meat producing animals is a growing concern within consumers all over the world, offering the Danish industry an advantage over other pork exporters.

Although the Danish antibiotic program constituted a major portion of group discussion, the group examined many other areas of Danish production. These areas included biosecurity, veterinary education, herd health programs, and housing designs. The International Swine Program offered by the NCSU-College of Veterinary Medicine provided the participants the opportunity to observe different programs, techniques, goals, and logical ways of examining problems. Its is hoped that the program will be continued, as much can be learned by observing the production processes of other countries and systems.