SIAMPIGS NETWORK.: IMPROVING ASIAN PIGS GENETIC LINES.

SiamPigs' goal is not only to improve production performance, but also to solve endemic and chronic herd health problems. In Asia, some pig producers buy breeding stock from Europe and the US with the expectation that the imported genetics will result in a giant leap forward for their breeding programmes. In doing so, they often make false assumptions when comparing their current performance and projected farm performance. They expect to see a lift in performance, but performance figures are not straightforward phenomena. SiamPigs, established in Thailand, is a network of pig producers using improved genetics, disease tolerant and disease resistant pigs as a tool. This network works on 3 principles; 1) Disease resistance and tolerance; Under real commercial operating conditions, when animals are intensively reared and disease is a limiting factor, natural selection is allowed to do its work. Unlike animals from European or the US genetic farms that have never faced disease challenges, animals selected by SiamPigs are disease tolerant or have resistant traits, and come from its own network across Thailand. Animals that have successfully adapted and continue to be productive are recruited as seed stock for further development and use within the network. Pigs in the SiamPigs network are resistant to Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS), Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae (App) and E. coli. The network can select disease tolerant or resistant animals that even experienced diseases but can nevertheless provide a good productivity to be used in breeding schemes . The experience in Thailand is that progeny from imported breeding stock appeared more susceptible to disease than progeny of SiamPigs. As a result, the network’s pigs need fewer drugs or antibiotics, leading to less residue in pork, hence an enhanced food safety. 2)One nucleus one farm (ON-OFF) model:The conventional model also called one nucleus-multiple farms(ON-MF), uses disease resistant pigs in combination with a closed herd system, reducing the risk of problems. The ON-OF model is a closed herd designed to replace great grandparent (GGP) breeding stock by all SiamPigs breeds. The one nucleus, multiple farms model (ON-MF), where breeding stock is imported for replacement, , despite many strategic management advantages, like within-herd gilt multiplication, good bio security measures and proper vaccination, disease outbreaks are still likely. Often it is believed that quarantine reduces the risk of disease introduction with newly imported breeding stock. Nevertheless, quarantine could also be seen as a strategic mistake which can result in increasing the potential of pathogens to reach recombination or heterosis beyond the levels that vaccination could cover. Especially when a nucleus herd continuously distributes parent stock gilts to multiplication herds and then executes quarantine measures before transferring breeding stock or parent stock gilts into the farm, such quarantine allows endemic pathogens to enhance their heterosis and thus the epidemic diseases to occur. Based on production efficiency, the ON-OF model yields an optimum performance with consistent results. It is apparent that differences in production efficiency are generally the result of disease. The more animals that are brought into the farm, the greater the contagious risk becomes, especially if the animals are brought in from various sources. The ON-OF model minimizes the frequency and number of animals brought into the farm,thus Selection is based on environment, nutrition, housing and management. This results in uniformity, the overall performance of farms within the SiamPigs network is consistent and competitive. 3)High lean sire and dam lines (GGR model) :To create a lean meat focus in both the sire as well as the dam breeding line. Breeding objectives in Europe and the US are often to focus on their market needs, i.e. to the culture of red meat and fat consumption. For example, the industrial sausage manufacturing requires lots of fat mixture rather than lean meat only. This usually happens in combination with selective breeding, focusing on achieving a high number of piglets per sow per year (PSY). The negative genetic correlation between PSY and lean meat percentage makes the end product (the pigs) suboptimal for the needs of countries importing breeding stock, e.g. those of Thailand. Often, illegally salbutamol is used in several Asian countries in an attempt to 'correct' this, as meat with a higher lean meat percentage is what is desired. The selection of terminal sires is usually not enough to effectively drive the parent stock to produce finishing pigs containing as much red meat, meeting market satisfaction. Therefore, in order to solve this problem the selective breeding of the dam line is to be targeted at 'high lean sow', which SiamPigs also has defined as selective breeding goal from the beginning. The pig production system yielding a higher red meat percentage, corresponding to Thai market needs is called the 'GGR model', in which 'G' refers to growth and and 'R' to reproduction. Pig breeds have not always been developed to be resistant to endemic pathogens – in the case of SiamPigs, those in Asia. For that reason, this network chose to focus on the selection of disease tolerant or resistant pigs and create its own network of disease prevention. The ON-OF model not only prevents infection introduced with imported breeding stock and replacement gilts but also makes disease pressure in the herd minimal. This ensures that, not only nucleus farms will have a high health, but all farms will. In addition, since the production that meets the market needs in each country on each continent are different, the swine selection goal of each country is to be determined differently and appropriately to each region's market needs as well. story culled from( pig progress.)

GENETICS AND PIG PRODUCTIVITY.

Improving genetic lines not only improves production but it creates disease free/resistant lines that maintains herd health and ensures profitability.A lot of pig producers sort and select breeds that will be stable in their environment and produce optimally,this they often do by importing breeding stocks or crossing various lines to come up with that that is suitable for their environment. A pig breeding network in Thai is producing genetic lines that are suitable and adaptable to Asian countries; The siam pigs run by Dr Sakchai Topanurak, Chulalongkorn University and major driving force behind SiamPigs. The goal of SiamPigs' is not only to improve production performance, but also to solve endemic and chronic herd health problems. This concept was borne out of the fact that Western pig breeds do not always come fully prepared for the Asian reality as they are full of various pathogens and different market needs,the need to select genetic lines that are resistant to disease and yielding higher lean meat percentages. The operations of breeding systems ensures a nucleus herd is free from diseases. Genetics from a high health breeding nucleus will subsequently be distributed to a production herd. Breeders lower in the breeding pyramid of course always try to keep their production herds as free from diseases as a nucleus herd would be – and also try to maintain similar high health standards, e.g. by applying strict bio security measures. This is done to enable the pigs to perform to their full genetic potential so that they can deliver effective and competitive products. SiamPigs, established in Thailand, is a network of pig producers using improved genetics, disease tolerant and disease resistant pigs as a tool. The group's goal is not only to improve production performance, but also to solve endemic and chronic herd health problems. Many pig farms have successfully reduced the risk of infection from outside the farm by applying a model that revolves around the principle of 'one nucleus, one farm' . SiamPigs developed its own breeds – Duroc line 929, Large White line 7788, Landrace line 4701 and Siam Kurobuta, with the productivity of the network's members being on par with the world's top producers. Farms in the network vary in size, starting from 400 to more than 10,000 sows. The network covers more than 100 farms in Thailand, with over 250,000 sows using breeding stock and semen developed by SiamPigs.

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Interested in wildlife veterinary career opportunities? Register for our webinar: The AVMA Veterinary Career Center, the online career resource for veterinarians and veterinary professionals, is sponsoring a webinar on “The Wild Life: State Department of Natural Resource (DNR) V...

Simulator-based training in veterinary medicine: Teaching animals increasingly replaced by dummies

Simulator-based training in veterinary medicine: Teaching animals increasingly replaced by dummies: Skills training of veterinary students is increasingly based on teaching simulators. This does not only allow a reduction of animal-based interventions but provides students with an opportunity for repeated and stress-free training sessions. Researchers have demonstrated that simulator-based training can be extremely efficient to achieve learning outcomes in veterinary gynecology.

RABIES AND GLOBAL TRAVEL.

Scientists/researchers have warned tourist/holiday enthusiast to stay away from animals including bats on such travelling.This advice came on the heels of a lady that died after she was bitten by a dog while on a trip in India for 2 weeks. 

 Rabies is an acute viral infection of the central nervous system. The virus is usually transmitted through a dog bite, and results in at least 40,000 deaths worldwide every year.Around 90% of deaths occur in the developing world,particularly in India, where dogs that roam freely are largely responsible. Rabies is rare in the UK, where just 12 cases have been reported since 1977, 11 contracted abroad and one rare case acquired from a bat in the UK. 

 A team of researchers describe the case of a woman in her late 30s who was admitted to hospital with shooting pain in her lower back and left leg. Three and a half months earlier, she had been bitten by a puppy on a lead during a two week holiday in Goa. It left a slight graze, but she did not seek medical help, and she had not received a vaccination before travelling. 

She was diagnosed with rabies and died after 18 days in hospital. This case serves as an important reminder of the risk of rabies for any traveler to a country where rabies is endemic, even tourists on a short visit to a holiday resort, say the authors. 

 Travelers need to know whether they are visiting a country where rabies is endemic, and that any dog bite must be taken seriously,even an apparently innocuous bite from a pet. The risk can also be reduced by avoiding contact with animals that might be susceptible to rabies. stay away from roaming dogs ,cats or wildlife.

RABIES AND ORGAN TRANSPLANT.

An investigation into the source of a fatal case of rabies virus exposure indicates that the individual received the virus through a kidney transplant 18 months earlier. 

 This findings suggests that rabies transmitted by this route may have a longer incubation period, and that although solid organ transplant transmission of infectious encephalitis is rare, further education to increase awareness is needed. The rabies virus causes a fatal encephalitis (inflammation of the brain) and can be transmitted through tissue or organ transplantation. 

The researchers found that in retrospect, the kidney donor's symptoms prior to death were consistent with rabies (the presumed diagnosis at the time of death was ciguatera poisoning [a foodborne illness]). 

 The Subsequent interviews with family members revealed that the donor had significant wildlife exposure, and had sustained at least 2 raccoon bites, for which he did not seek medical care. Rabies virus antigen was detected in archived autopsy brain tissue collected from the donor. 

The rabies viruses infecting the donor and the deceased kidney recipient were consistent with the raccoon rabies virus variant and were more than 99.9 percent identical across the entire N gene, thus confirming organ transplantation as the route of transmission. The 3 other organ recipients did not have signs or symptoms consistent with rabies or encephalitis.

 They have remained asymptomatic, with rabies virus neutralizing antibodies detected in their serum after completion of post-exposure prophylaxis. This transmission event provides an opportunity for enhancing rabies awareness and recognition and highlights the need for a modified approach to organ donor screening and recipient monitoring for infectious encephalitis. This investigation also underscores the importance of collaboration between clinicians, epidemiologists, and laboratory scientists . (culled from materials from American medical association.)

RESEARCHERS DEVELOP NEW RABIES TREATMENT.

Treating rabies can be a race against the clock. Those who suffer a bite from a rabid animal have a brief window of time to seek medical help before the virus takes root in the central nervous system, at which point the disease is almost invariably fatal. Now, researchers have successfully tested a treatment on mice that cures the disease even after the virus has spread to the brain. The best way to deal with rabies right now is simple: Don't get rabies said study co-author Biao He, a professor of infectious diseases in the UGA College of Veterinary Medicine. The vaccines that are available can prevent the disease, and the same vaccine is used as a kind of treatment after a bite, but it only works if the virus hasn't progressed too far. There is a new treatment now, a new vaccine has been developed that rescues mice much longer after infection than what was traditionally thought possible. In experiments, the animals were exposed to a strain of the rabies virus that generally reaches the brain of infected mice within three days. By day six, mice begin to exhibit the tell-tale physical symptoms that indicate the infection has become fatal. However, 50 percent of mice treated with the new vaccine were saved, even after the onset of physical symptoms on day six. There is an urgent need in many parts of the world for a better rabies treatment, and we think this technology may serve as an excellent platform . (source ;science daily)