Health expenses of pig farms in Brittany in 2021
Dépenses de santé et exposition aux antibiotiques des élevages porcins bretons en 2021
Résumé
Controlling animal health expenses is an economic and safety issue for the French pork industry. The study of health expenses sheds light on the complex management of health on farms. A survey of health expenses in 2021 on 51 farrow-to-finish pig farms in Brittany was used to update the previous dataset from 2017. The survey consisted of retrieving GTE (technical and economic management) and GTTT (sow herd management) results, as well as invoices for health-product purchases. Participating farmers were surveyed to learn their breeding practices. Average health expenses in 2021 were 5.59€ per 100 kg of carcass, compared to 6.07€ in 2017, which represents a small decrease over the past 4 years. Overall, 82% of health expenses were for preventive products, especially vaccines (62% of total expenses). Sows generated the largest expenses, followed by piglets, weaned piglets and fattening pigs. Expenses for anti-inflammatory drugs and antibiotics in water and feed supplements have significantly decreased since 2017. The average Animal Level of Exposure to Antimicrobials (ALEA) for the study’s participating breeders is 0.23 ± 0.18 These results show the effectiveness of policies to favor the preventive use of drugs, such as the French Ecoantibio plan. One point that could be explored further to reduce the use of antibiotics is to use alternative products and increase the skill in using them.