Water Hygiene for Sows at this time of year

As a postscript to the January Output comment and building on the point that I made about water quality at the point of consumption I want to recount a conversation with a client earlier today on his farm. We discussed the subject and he said that he had been testing the water at point of consumption for pH and micro-organism count. These were unacceptable in his mind and he is experimenting with an Organic Acid additive to improve water quality and therefore increase water consumption in lactating sows in particular.

Water quality is affected by the presence of organic matter such as manure as this supports things like Salmonella and E-coli. This factor, according to scientists creates an infection pressure despite there being no clinical signs.

I think that this is useful information that is worth the consideration of most pig producers for their production sites.

Protected Organic Acid Blends are already being used as an alternative to Antibiotics in the feeding herd in some industries and it is believed that they deliver quality enhancement and cost efficiency.