The effect of antimicrobial growth promoter withdrawal on the health of weaned pigs in Finland.

The use of the antimicrobial growth promoters (AGPs) carbadox and olaquindox has been banned in the European Union (EU) since September 1999. We studied the effects of the withdrawal on the health of weaned piglets on two types of piglet-producing farms (farrowing herds and farrow-to-finish herds) from the different regions of Finland. Farms with no major problems with post-weaning diarrhoea were selected for the study to better evaluate the effect of AGPs alone. Data on production, medication and incidence of diarrhoea were collected from 73 farms during 1 year after the withdrawal. On 29 of these farms, the data collection began 4 months before the withdrawal. The health management of the pigs is considered good in Finland, and special attention has been paid to improve the husbandry practices and management of the farms. Eighty-two percent of the farms in the study were free of both Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae and Sarcoptes scabiei infection. Brachyspira hyodysenteriae infection was not detected in any of the farms. The median number of sows in the herds was 56.0 (IQR=43.0; 72.5) in 2000. The level of antimicrobial use in each herd was classified as low, moderate and high when the percentage of weaned pigs treated for diarrhoea during a 4-month period was 0-5%, 6-19% and > or =20%, respectively. Only on four herds (14%), there was an increase in the level of antibiotic use after the AGP withdrawal, when seasonally corresponding 4-month periods were compared. Fourty-one percent of these 29 farms were categorized as low users of antimicrobials, 38% as moderate users and 21% as high users. The level of antimicrobial use for treatment of diarrhoea after weaning (and the incidence of diarrhoea in weaned piglets) did not increase significantly after the withdrawal of AGPs from weaner feeds according to farmers' evaluations. In this study, the Escherichia coli infection was the most-common cause of diarrhoea in weaned pigs. The age at weaning did not change after the withdrawal of AGPs.