Hygiene and disinfection solutions for pigs

A basic recommendation is to wash your hands before entering the pig farm. Hands are directly in contact with the animals and pathogen transfer is easy this way. Boots should also be disinfected in footbaths to prevent diseases from spreading and obtaining a hygienic situation.

Water is one of the most important nutrients for pigs. Water hygiene is of great importance. Water lines should be disinfected with the high quality disinfectant, that doesn’t leave any residue and is stable until the end of the water lines.

A consistent hygiene and disinfection plan will stop reinfection and create a safe environment for the animals. Minimizing diseases and optimizing output will highly depend on the design of the farm, management, routine cleaning and disinfection, and good housekeeping.

Besides that, stocking and ventilation are two other factors that are very important regarding the spreading of diseases. Good ventilation will reduce the risk of respiratory diseases and increase the air quality. On the other hand, both stocking rate (m²/pig) and stocking density (m³/pig) influence hygiene.

All-in all-out systems (AIAO)

In AIAO systems, pigs of the same age (within two weeks) or class are housed together in a room and arrive and leave around the same time. There may be weaners, growers or finishers, or may be sows due to farrow during the same week. Cleaning is the most important past of the AIAO systems. Once a batch is ‘out’, cleaning can be started without risking to spread diseases or wetting the pigs.