Prevention of pig diseases by pig herd health programmes based on slaughterhouse surveillance and herd management

Many swine pathogens are common in pig herds, especially large scale herds, where there is a high density of pigs. To eliminate these is neither possi ble nor necessary. Only for a few pathogens capable of causing epidemics is the safeguarding strategy required. For this purpose, herd health programm es are introduced in the European Union to eradicate and to monitor specifi c diseases. The remaining diseases can be managed by a controlling strategy with a balance between resistance of the pig and the infection pressure of the disease germs present. Eased on slaughterhouse surveillance systems an d herd management information it can be concluded that there are big differ ences in the health status of the animals between individual herds. Associa tions with pig housing and farm management show the opportunity to prevent against clinical outbreaks and economic damage by optimising environmental conditions. Consumers demand more and more guarantees for the safety of por k and for the welfare of the pigs during their lifetime. Therefore more and more different stages in the production chain are controlled by slaughterh ouse surveillance on pathological-anatomical findings and sero-prevalence o f diseases and by regular checks on minimal requirements for the farms in a n integrated Quality Control (IQC) system.