CONTENTS • Foreword • Preface • Purpose • Occurrence • Lifecycle • Reaction to heat • Reaction to fermentation • Reaction to chemicals • Egg protection • Materials and Methods • Strategy • Description of farms • choice of farm • size of farms • housing • cleaning • parasitic control • farm management • Samples • time period • floor sampling technique • fig.1 farrowing pen. Farm 1 • fig.2 finishing pen. Farm 1 • analysis of floor samples • pig sampling [rectal] technique • analysis of pig samples • statistics • Materials used • Slaked lime • Stalosan F • Handling the disinfectant materials • Morphology of Ascaris eggs • Results • Farm 1 • Rectal samples - sows • Floor samples - farrowing pen • Floor samples - finishing pen, Aug 98 • Rectal samples - finishing pen 12/10 and 2/11/98 • Floor samples - finishing pen - Nov 1998; control, lime, Stalosan F • Farm 2 • Floor samples in 6 houses • Black Ascaris eggs - microphotos of 'black' Asc.eggs • Milk spots • Discussion • Conclusion • Summary • Bibliograph
FOREWORD Before I started as a veterinary student, I worked for two sessions on farms - broiler/pigs, pigs/dairy cows respectively. During these periods I learned that it is very important for the animal's welfare to physically clean and disinfect housing carefully. When I now have the chance to investigate whether disinfection makes a difference, and because I like the universally applicable properties of slaked lime, [disinfects, pasteurisation, reduce odours, improves manure and stable conditions] and I have a good experience of Stalosan F, to use these two products as agents in this paper. Both products will, possibly, be accepted also in organic farming systems which I find is important. I want to know something concrete, how roundworm problems can be tackled in practice without major use of medicines or chemicals. I hope to broaden my knowledge enough to advise the farmer in effective parasitic control without polluting the environment. "What goes in, must come out" - this must also apply to the large quantity of anthelmintics that are used in Denmark each year. Despite anthelmintic use on Danish pig farms, I have observed in post-mortems, during my study of meat control, that a large proportion of slaughtered pigs have 'milk spots' in the liver [interstitial hepatitis] probably due to Ascaris suum larval migration. I hope to find Ascaris suum eggs on a suitable farm then establish likely location of these eggs on other farms. Should there be time, I hope to be able to treat these farm buildings so that later investigations would find an absence of eggs. I wish to acknowledge everybody who has made this work possible and for the help given by members of C.E.P. My supervisor, Allan Roepstorff, has been able to point me in the right direction when I was unable to move forward. Laboratory Assistants, Marlene Høg and Claus Dahl, together with all at C.E.P., have given fantastic help is solving a lot of practical problems. Head of Laboratory, Margrethe Pearman and lecturer Jesper Monrad, for help with microphotography. Chemical Consultant Hanne Sørensen, for help in protective clothing in handling slaked lime. Professor Arne Holm and lecturer Svend Clausen informed me of the nature of slaked lime. Faxe Kalkbrud, especially Marianne Ørbaek, Lotte Kjaergård, John Hansen and, not least, Jeanne Schubell, are acknowledged for samples, good ideas and relevant literature. Stormøllen in Køge, Carl-Gustaf Holst and agronomist Kristian Smedegård for information on Stalosan F. Lecturer Anders Permin for giving me Stalosan F for the trial. Fie Graugård, Organics House, Århus, technician Niels Midtgård and secretary Anne Bisp. Torben W. Schou and Jaap Boes for help with statistics. Library Supervisor Anna Eslau Larsen for help in documentation. Clever and patient supervision in EDB [Computers] amongst others Jens Erik Jensen, Veterinarian Troels Christensen, Steff Houlberg, Ringsted for eleventh hour assistance in post- mortem results. The Roskilde Slaughterhouse School for contacts with trial farm 2 and, not least, the farmers Willy Hansen, Tommy Mathiesen and families. Amager, February 1999