How To Identify Pig Diseases In Nigeria: Their Prevention And Control
Pig diseases are the bane of every pig farmer in Nigeria today. Rearing pig in Nigeria has become a very profitable and lucrative agribusiness investment. This article is geared to helping you understand the different pig diseases, their symptoms, prevention, and control. If you as a pig farmer fail to identify ways to prevent these pig diseases, they will render your pig farming business useless.
Read: How to start ram and rabbit farming in Nigeria
Therefore, before you venture into pig farming business in Nigeria, it is recommended that you do an extensive research on the common pig diseases, their symptoms, prevention, and cure. If you fail to do this, you are at the risk of losing your pigs to these diseases. There is nothing more devastating to a livestock farmer than watching his farm animals die one after the other.
Common Pig Diseases In Nigeria; Their Symptoms, Prevention, And Treatment
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Escherichia cold bacteria
These bacteria are mostly found in the digestive tract of pigs. When the immune system of your pigs is low, it allows the bacteria to multiply and cause havoc to your pigs.
Symptoms
The symptoms include weakness of the pigs, rapid weight loss, and watery yellowish diarrhea.
Prevention
- Always keep the pens, watering troughs, and feed clean.
- Don’t suddenly change the ration of the pigs.
- Quarantine already infested pigs in the farm.
Treatment
You can inject antibiotics like penicillin or streptomycin into the muscle of the neck or hip of infected animal. Seek the services of a qualified veterinary doctor before administering this injection.
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Swine dysentery
This particular pig disease affects pig of all ages. It goes by many names like hemorrhagic enteritis, bloody diarrhea and s on.
See: How to start ram and sheep rearing business in Nigeria
Symptoms
At the early stage, the infected pig will start experiencing loss of appetite, fever, and soft feces. If not treated them, it graduates to the acute stage. At this acute stage, the pig will start producing mucoid diarrhea with patches of blood, watery hemorrhagic diarrhea, weakness, dehydration, and total weight loss.
Prevention
Always disinfect the pens of infected pigs. Poor farrowing and abnormal feeding conditions contribute to the spread of this particular pig disease.
Treatment
You can treat this disease by injecting Tylosin into the muscle of the neck or hip of the infected pig. You can as well make use of herbal medicines to subdue the symptoms.
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Foot and mouth disease (FMD)
This is one of the common pig diseases in Nigeria that is caused by a virus. It is highly contagious and has high mortality rate.
Symptoms
There is presence of blisters on the hooves, feet, mouth, and teats of infected farm animals. There is also loss of appetite, high fever, constant salivation, lameness, and falling off of hooves.
Also Read: Goat and sheep diseases in Nigeria
Prevention
- Always vaccinate your pigs against foot and mouth disease.
- Quarantine infected farm animals.
- You should not slaughter or sell infected pigs; rather, you should bury them.
- Always seek the help of a veterinary doctor
Treatment
To dry the blisters on the skin of infested pigs, mix a glass of formalin with a glass of gentian violet and apply the solution on the skin of infected animals 2-3 times daily.
You can also inject penicillin or streptomycin into the muscle of the infected pig. You should repeat the process for a period of one month.
No matter how good you are in injecting farm animals, always seek the advice of a qualified veterinary doctor.
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Transmissible gastroenteritis
This one of the viral pig diseases that commonly affects the small intestine leading constant vomiting and diarrhea. It spreads very fast and young piglets that are less than one week hardly survive this disease.
Symptoms
The symptoms include vomiting, constant watery diarrhea, dehydration, reduction in the milk production of lactating sows . During the acute stage, nursing piglets produce feces that contain curds of undigested milk. It also causes abortion in pregnant sows. The mortality rate is very high.
Prevention
- Make sure you keep the farm environment clean at all times.
- Always disinfect the pens of infected pigs before reusing it.
- Vaccinate your pigs as at when due.
- Quarantine infected animals.
Treatment
There is no available treatment at the moment.
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Hug cholera
This is also one of the pig diseases in Nigeria that is of viral origin. It is highly contagious and affects pigs of all ages. The hog cholera spreads very fast through direct and indirect contact with infected animals. You should note that hog cholera virus persists in meat that is preserved by salting, smoking, or freezing.
The disease can also be transmitted through the uncooked meat of an infected animal.
Symptoms
There is loss of appetite, inactivity, high fever, vomiting, constipation, and diarrhea. The skin of neck, ears, and abdomen of the infected pigs turn purple.
Prevention
- Burn and bury dead animals with lime.
- Always disinfect the pens of infected animals.
- Always quarantine infected animals.
- Vaccinate your farm animals as at when due.
- Always buy new pigs from trusted breeders.
- Isolate and observe newly bought farm animals for at least one month.
Treatment
In treating hog cholera, early detection of the disease is important. You can inject the infected pig with hog cholera serum within the first three days of exhibiting the disease. If the animal has been sick for more than 3 days, forget the hog cholera serum because it will be of no use.
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Intestinal parasites
This is one of the most common pig diseases in Nigeria. It is mostly caused by worms that belong to the ascaris family. They are large round worms found in the small intestine of pigs of all ages.
Note: Eating vegetables that are treated with pig manure infested with ascaris will transmit the worms to humans. So, always steam your vegetables very well before eating.
Symptoms
Pigs suffering from intestinal parasites like ascaris exhibit the following symptoms;
- Diarrhea
- Loss of appetite
- Slow growth
- Coughing
- Weight loss
- Presence o0f live worms in their feces.
Prevention
- Always keep the farm environment clean at all times.
- Deworm your pigs every 21 days to distort the life cycle of the roundworms.
- Vaccinate your farm animals.\
Treatment
Aside from deworming your pigs with Latigo 500 for mature pigs and Latigo 50 for piglets, you should seek the advice of your veterinary doctor for more options.
There are numerous pig diseases in Nigeria but I have just mentioned a few to give a head start. Before venturing into pig farming business in Nigeria, make out time to research on these common pig diseases and ways to prevent them from ravaging your pig farm.
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