Evidence-Based Recommendations for Herd Health Management of Porcine Post-Weaning Diarrhea

SIMPLE SUMMARY: In this paper, you will find recommendations on how to prevent post-weaning diarrhea in pigs kept in indoor pig herds. The recommendations are based on the scientific knowledge that is currently available. The authors first validated that Danish veterinarians working with pigs demanded such recommendations. Then, we collected papers written by other researchers who had summarized the scientific knowledge on different topics related to post-weaning diarrhea. From the papers, we extracted and synthesized 79 specific recommendations that may help veterinarians and pig producers make good decisions for their pig herd. The paper exemplifies a novel approach to summarizing and transferring science into practice that may be of interest to people that are not involved with pigs and post-weaning diarrhea. ABSTRACT: Aided by their advising veterinarians, pig producers need to make difficult decisions regarding herd health management strategies. For instance, the preventive use of antimicrobials and medicinal zinc oxide must be substituted with more sustainable preventive approaches to porcine post-weaning diarrhea. Veterinarians and pig producers may find assistance in knowledge based on evidence in this regard; however, the overwhelming scientific literature is not always readily available. The overall aim of this paper is to suggest herd health management decision-support tools that can aid veterinary-assisted decision making in the control of porcine post-weaning diarrhea at a tactical level. The first objective was to validate the need for a herd health management concept, including two decision-support tools. The second objective was to develop evidence-based recommendations that can aid veterinary-assisted decision-making for the herd health management of post-weaning diarrhea. The first objective was investigated by a questionnaire-based study among veterinary pig practitioners in Denmark. For the second objective, we conducted a scientific summary based on scientific review papers identified through a systematic search in three databases. From the papers, we synthesized and extracted 79 specific recommendations. In this paper, we report comprehensive evidence-based recommendations for the herd health management of post-weaning diarrhea.