Hemoglobin is built up from protein and heme groups which give the blood its red colour . Hemoglobin transports oxygen and carbon dioxide between the lungs and other tissues in the body. Normally, a piglet has a hemoglobin value of 130-150 gram per liter blood, and the lower limit before anaemia appears is 80 grams per liter blood. The immune defense is also dependent upon the presence of iron in hemoglobin, since iron participates in different enzyme systems. When the piglet develops anaemia, it becomes pale and thicker around the neck. It also has a decreased growth rate, becomes listless and has loss of appetite. The symptoms appear when the available iron becomes less than needed to build sufficient new hemoglobin molecules. The colour of a healthy piglet is light pink with a darker string on its back.
The piglet is born with an iron deposit of approximately 50 milligrams, and they use about seven milligrams per day. That means that they have used up the innate deposit after one week. Sow milk only contain small amounts of iron. Therefore iron has to be provided in other ways. The methods of providing the piglets with iron are many and different. Which method used varies from herd to herd. In order To complement the amount of iron, the piglets are given iron by injection or by paste orally. With feed they can also be given peat, pellets, sulphate or iron enriched drinking water. Usually the piglets are given an iron injection according to Fass vet. recommendation in connection with castration at an age of three to five days. Then for certain they will get the iron.
Arthritis in piglets is an illness that more or less all piglet producers has to deal with. It is difficult to know exactly what causes the illness, but it is known that a Streptococcus bacteria reaches the joints via the blood circulation. The underlying causes are not known, but possible routes of entry for the bacteria could be: damaged teeth when clipped or ground; cuts on the front legs; wear injuries under their hooves; navel cuts; scratches on their cheeks; or early iron injection as well.
It is important to discover the illness at an early stage, to be able to do something about it. A piglet suffering from anaemia shows symptoms such as swollen joints, lameness, stiffness, and walk with a tottering gait, dragging one foot. The piglets quickly become tired and do not have the strength to defend their status within the litter. The outbreak is most common during the two first weeks of life, and the herdsman has to be extremely observant. Every day the herdsman has to make the piglets move around and observe them carefully to discover if they are affected by arthritis. If so, for best effect, the treatment has to start immediately. The treatment is the use of any of the antibiotics recommended by Fass vet.
The practical experiment was carried out at SLU:s experimental farm Odarslöv. The aim of the experiment was to see how iron injections affected the risk of developing arthritis. A total of 137 piglets were used in the experiment. Each piglet was numbered and the litters were split into two groups. One group got iron injections on day three, the other group on day eight. When the piglets reached an age of three days, the litter as divided with consideration to weight and sex as precisely as possible. The piglets were weighed and clinically examined carefully and checked for arthritis. Everything was written down and registered. All the boars were castrated on day three, and small amounts of Streptocillin vet., were put in the cut. At
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day seven, all the piglets were clinically examined and checked for arthritis once again. New cases were treated and registered as before. At day eight all the piglets were weighed and checked for arthritis. The rest of the piglets received iron injections. On day 21, all the piglets were weighed and a blood sample taken to measure the hemoglobin level.
All the data were compiled. Statistical calculations were made for growth, hemoglobin levels and arthritis. The experiment showed no effect on the growth rate of the piglets of different ages, according tot iron injection. The hemoglobin level showed some difference (P-value 0.0564.), where the pigs receiving...
