To Vaccinate Your Herd or Not? How It Improved My Business

July 21, 2021

I thought pigs were impervious to just about everything.

That they could eat anything and just keep on pigging.

That was until I switched my operation to a dual operation .....with both breeding stock and a meat business.

A few months in and I was struggling.

What litters I did get were split with healthy and weak piglets.

I was in trouble.

So, I reached out to my vet for help.

And she helped me modify my program that has led to great success.

Now, our litters have grown from 6-9 to 11-19. That's more like it!

What were the changes?

There were 4 things that I did.

Implement a Vaccine Program
Treat the Herd for Mycotoxins
Change the pairing window of breeding pairs
Move my feed to Climate Control Storage

For this post, I'm going to talk about my Vaccine Program. Then, I'll cover the other 3 in the next posts.

An anti-vaxxer from my meat operation, adding vaccinations was a significant change!

I use 4 different vaccines..... Let me share with you a little on each of them .

BTW - the links I am sharing are from Valley Vet. I am not an affiliate / paid advertiser. I have found that there website is the most helpful for quick reviews and their shipping times/ product arrival is fantastic. Click on the name of each vaccine for a link.

Farrowsure Gold B

LEPTO/PARVO – Inj 2 ml IM

Boars – semi-annually

Sows and Gilts 4-6 weeks prior to breeding and follow up 3-4 weeks later. Re-vax 4-6 weeks prior to breeding. Safe for pregnant and nursing.

Myco Shield

PNEUMONIA – Inj 1 ml IM re-vax in 2 weeks.

CircoFLEX by Ingelvac

CIRCOVIRUS – Inj 1 ml IM. Starts working 2 weeks after administration. Duration of immunity is 4 months.

Litterguard LTC

E-COLI – Inj 2 ml IM. Sows preg only 2 doses, 3 weeks apart during last ½ of pregnancy. The second dose should be given 2 weeks before farrowing. Pregnant swine should be re-vax w/single dose 2 weeks before each farrowing.