Lis Ravn organised a Post Mortem Day with with Ben Strugnell from Thirsk VLA for the BPEX East Yorkshire Pig Club.
The East Yorkshire BPEX pig club met for a All producers brought in pigs that had died on their farm. There was a wide range of sizes and ages of pigs. Ben Strugnell performed a post mortem on all the pigs describing what he found and took samples if needed.
Cases:
a) A young gilt around 80kg had recently started loosing a lot of condition. She was also lame, so the farm had decided to euthanatize her
- The PM found that she had severe hip joint lesions, which would have resulted in her being unable to compete for food. There was no chance that she could have recovered and the lameness would only gradually have become worst
b) A 3 week old piglet was found dead in the farrowing crate
- The PM showed a blockage of the urinary tract and the bladder had subsequently exploded. The piglet had eaten well and had probably been able to urinate a little bit, hence the age before the fatal death
c) A weaned piglet and a 6wk weaned piglet were found dead on the same farm
- The PM gave suspicion to Mulberry heart disease from the color of the weaned piglet’s heart along with a torned liver the 6wk old piglet. Samples were taken for analysis. Mulberry heart disease can be caused by Vitamin E deficiency
d) A 2 wk old piglet found dead in the farrowing crate
- The PM found Pericarditis
e) A 3 wk old piglet found dead in the farrowing crate
- The PM showed signs of scour and the color of the intestines indicated Rotavirus. Samples were taken for further analysis
f) A 13 wk old piglet had been euthanatized on a farm due to lameness. It was the smallest in the pen
- The PM showed that an old fracture had healed wrongly and led to bone deformity. The pig would have been severely in pain and had reduced chance to compete for food
g) 2 laid on piglets – just born
- The PM showed that both piglet had suckled before they’d been laid on (bruises)