The study was conducted in the Nord-Eastern part of Switzerland in an organic 90-sow farrow-to-finish farm.

At the time of castration A total of 413 piglets was tagged, weighted and allocated to two homogenous treatment groups according to weight at castration, sex, sow parity and litter.

At weaning, 208 piglets were vaccinated with CIRCOVAC, 0.5mL, IM in the neck. The other piglets remained unvaccinated against PCV2. All piglets were individually weighed again at slaughter.

Mortality was recorded was well. To compare weights and Average Daily Weight Gain (ADWG), between the two groups, a Student’s t-test or a Kruskall-Wallis test was used depending on the conditions of use of the tests.

Since some pigs were sold before the end of the study to comply with organic farm certification, comparability of group performance was checked by excluding these animals from the data analysis.

Results and conclusion

The piglets were castrated at the same age (4.6 days of age, p=0.66) and no difference in average bodyweight was evidenced at castration between groups (p=0.87). The pigs were also weaned at the same age on average (p= 0.78) i.e. at 26.2 days of age (range between 21 and 34 days of age).

ADWG between castration and slaughter was higher in the vaccinated group by 15g/day (V: 571g/day vs NV:556 g/day, p<0.01).

Slaughter weight was reached 4 days earlier (p=0.01) for the group vaccinated with CIRCOVAC and mean bodyweights at slaughter were not different (100.6kg, p=0.95) between the groups. S

ix unvaccinated pigs were found dead as well as 3 vaccinated pigs. Mortality rate was consequently very low in each group with no difference among groups.

In conclusion and under the conditions of the study, CIRCOVAC vaccination proved better growth performance and led to reach the targeted weight for slaughterhouse earlier than in non-vaccinated piglets.

Presented at the 2015 European Symposium of Porcine Health Management

July 2015