Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development Project Progress Report 004/05VIE: Diagnosis and control of diarrhoea in suckling pigs MS2: 1 st SIX-MONTHLY REPORT April 2006 – October 2006 1. Institute Information Project Name A blueprint for sustainable small holder pig production in Central Vietnam Vietnamese Institution National Institute of Animal Husbandry (NIAH); Hue University of Agriculture and Forestry (HUAF); National Institute of Veterinary Research (NIVR) Vietnamese Project Team Leader Dr. Nguyen Que Coi Australian Organisation The University of Queensland/Victorian Department of Primary Industry/South Australian Research and Development Institute/University of Sydney Australian Personnel Dr Darren Trott, Dr Ian Wilkie, Dr Colin Cargill, Dr Tony Fahy, Dr Trish Holyoake Date commenced April 1st 2006 Completion date (original) April 2009 Completion date (revised) April 2009 Reporting period April 2006 – October 2006 Contact Officer(s) In Australia: Team Leader Name: Dr Darren Trott Telephone: 617 336 52985 Position: Senior Lecturer School of Veterinary Science Fax: 617 336 51355 Organisation School of Veterinary Science The University of Qld Email: d.trott@uq.edu.au In Australia: Administrative contact Name: May Montecino Telephone: 61 7 33652651 Position: Manager Research Projects Office Fax: 61 7 33651188 Organisation School of Land and Food The University of Qld Email: m.montecino@uq.edu.au In Vietnam Name: Dr Nguyen Que Coi Telephone: 84 4 7572803 Position: Head of Department of Small Livestock Research Fax: 84 4 8389775 Organisation NIAH Email: quecoi@netnam.vn 2. Project Abstract Small holder farmers in Central Vietnam predominantly raise pig breeds such as Mong Cai, Mini pig, and SocHighland, which are well adapted to local conditions but have limited performance and economic efficiency. Improving the genetics of local breeds by introduction of high performance Mong Cai lines for pure breeding and exotic breeding programmes will result in significant benefits for small holder farmers if it can be aligned with an integrated farrow-to-finish management plan (focusing on health, husbandry, housing and nutrition) to improve p roduction parameters and limit health problems. This holistic, continuous improvement plan (CIP) will be initiated b y appropriately trained Vietnamese veterinary and animal scientists, under the direction of Australian experts. Through a train the trainers approach, the CIP will be extended to veterinary extension workers, commercial piggery managers and selected small scale pig farmers for successful uptake of knowledge and skills. 3. Executive Summary This project began with six major objectives: 1. Train the trainers; 2. Select the farms; 3. Adopt best practice; 4. Introduce new breeding stock; 5. Monitor profitability; and 6. Sustain profitability. During the first six months of the project, sound progress has been made towards the first objective according to the project logframe. Five Vietnamese stakeholders visited the Australian institutes involved in the project in March/April 2006. The major purpose of this site visit was to plan the 8- week programme in which two Vietnamese scientists from each institute would come to Australia and be trained in an holistic approach to pig production focusing on health, housing, husbandry and epidemiology. The training programme commenced in June 2006 and all six Vietnamese scientists completed their competency assessments and contributed to the development of a comprehensive survey questionnaire and audit to be delivered in each of the four selected provinces (Quang Nam, Thua Thien Hue, Quang Tri and Binh Dinh). A project workshop involving all major Vietnamese stakeholders and Australian scientists was held at the end of September 2006 to specifically review housing and farrowing pen design to enable development of sustainable models for smallholder pig production in Central Vietnam, to discuss and identify risk factors, and to distribute tasks and responsibilities. Sub-optimal housing environment recorded on most farms appears to be a major factor limiting smallholder pig production in Central Vietnam. Buildings were too hot, poorly ventilated with no cross airflow, and farrowing accommodation was too hot for sows, while providing sub-optimal environment for piglets and insufficient choice. Also floors were too wet in most farrowing pens. Sheds that may provide a more suitable climate under local conditions are narrow, freestanding structures with side wall openings one meter high along the length of the shed and tiles on the roof. These appear to provide significant cross airflow in hot and humid weather. Temporary housing for fatteners over rice flood plains integrated with duck farming was another system observed that may be suitable in certain regions. Integrated farming practices to be actively encouraged that seemed most appropriate to local conditions combined biogas production using a Chinese digester with fish farming in which the processed manure was used to raise fish in ponds or grow water plants, the surplus of which can be directly fed back to the pigs. Following completion of the survey, decisions will now be made on the types of model systems that will be most appropriate to each province and the type of improved breeding stock to be introduced (pure Mong Cai, F1 or F2 cross bred, or exotic sows). Farms will then be selected, facilities upgraded and farmers will be encouraged to borrow money to purchase new breeding stock once they have completed training programmes delivered by Vietnamese scientists. 4. Introduction & Background In response to the increased demand for pork, Vietnamese small holder farmers in the Central provinces have intensified their production system, while others have attempted to continue to produce pigs in older, poorly designed facilities. As intensification has increased, so too have disease problems, particularly in the pre-weaning stage, so it is not surprising that enteric diseases cause very substantial losses in this age group. While the diseases involved can usually be controlled by a combination of good management and strategic vaccination, the sub-optimal environment provided on many farms is also a major risk factor, especially in the farrowing and weaning areas. Antibiotics, which add significantly to the cost of production, are used to overcome these deficiencies and their indiscriminate use is probably contributing to the current high level of multi-drug resistance in isolates from pigs in Vietnam. Expansion of small holder pig production in Central Vietnam has the potential to improve the income generating capacity of poor families, but is currently hampered by low profitability due to a combination of poor reproductive performance and growth rates, lack of husbandry and management skills, poor nutrition and disease problems. Based on the experience drawn from our existing CARD project (001/04VIE), the problems faced by small holder pork producers in Vietnam include: • Lack of on-farm recording to allow effective herd management on a day-to-day basis. • Lack of written records on average daily gain, feed conversion efficiency and pigs marketed /sow/year to determine whole-herd productivity and profitability. • Failure to set and reach reproduction targets. • Poor ventilation and cooling systems which limit the feed intake of progeny and breeders. • Restrict feeding of all classes of stock from lactating sows through to finisher pigs. • Lack of written data to assist resolving herd health problems-particularly mortalities, age and cause of death. • Incorrect vaccination strategies for those diseases for which there are effective vaccines. • Lack of specialist veterinary and extension staff to instruct and advise farmers. • Lack of model demonstration farms in each province to train the trainers. To better understand the risk factors that are contributing to pig health problems, and limiting or reducing production, it is proposed to survey a large number of small holder farms in Quang Tri, Thua Thien Hue, Quang Nam and Binh Dinh Provinces. Retrospective baseline data on production, health, housing, environment and income will be collected and deficiencies in husbandry and housing will be detected and assessed so that they can be prioritised. A representative sample of small holder farms (defined as those with less than 10-15 sows) and small commercial farms (30 to 100 sows) in each province will be selected for the survey and audit process, which will be used to assess the standard of production and competency of farmers and facilities. Prior to commencing the survey, Vietnamese scientists will be trained to visit farms and interview the farmer and his/her family and collect required data on production and facilities. Following the survey of selected farms in the three provinces, a workshop will be held at Hue University of Agriculture and Forestry to identify the key risk factors that are negatively influencing health and production. A set of priorities will then be established for improving management, husbandry and housing on farms. This will result in the development of suitable models for pig production incorporating modified and improved designs for housing, as well as husbandry and management techniques. Once the full modules have been validated, a series of field days will be held in each district, with extension service personnel and local veterinarians as trainers. Selected farmers will also be invited to participate in “train the trainer workshops” so that they can also participate in training other farmers through “farmer-to-farmer workshops” in each area. The pig production farrow-to-sale training workshops will be tailored for the needs and production systems followed. Many of the poorer households use indigenous breeds of pig with the intention of crossing them with exotic breeds to improve growth and performance in the F1 progeny. However, the local breeds currently reared by small holder farmers perform very poorly. Of the three major breeds pure Mong Cai have by far the best performance. High performance pure Mong Cai have been bred in Bacgiang with an average litter size of 13-14 piglets (compared to 8-9 for the other indigenous breeds) and a growth rate of 350-400g per day (compared to only 200-250g for the other breeds). These results clearly show the robustness of the Mong Cai breed. Introduction of high quality, high performance Mong Cai sows will provide the nucleus for a central coast pure Mong Cai breeding zone collective. Pure Mong Cai gilts will be raised for downstream sale to other small holders for a crossbreeding program using exotic breeds of boar. Hybrid vigour in F1 progeny will provide better growth rates than the currently used indigenous breeds, but will be more adaptable to local environmental conditions compared to exotic breeds of pig. This program will also maintain the pure Mong Cai gene pool in the central coastal area. 5. Progress to Date 5.1 Implementation Highlights 1) Australian Site visit by Vietnamese stakeholders, March 27 th to April 8 th 2006: Six Vietnamese stakeholders toured the sites of the four Australian collaborating institutions, including visits to several different pig rearing facilities. The training itinerary for six young Vietnamese Scientists was planned during this trip 2) Australian Training programme for six Vietnamese young scientists, June 6 th to July 21 st 2006: Using a train the trainers approach, six talented scientists (two from each participating Vietnamese institute) visited Australia for an 8-week intensive programme in June and July 2006. The overall goal of this programme was for each trainer to develop the capacity to conduct independent pig farm audits (focused on nutrition, husbandry, housing, health and management) to identify the major constraints to profitable production. Details of the training programmes at each institute are provided in the attachments to this report. Competency assessments were made for each training programme. The programme culminated with epidemiological training and development of a small holder farmer audit and survey questionnaire at UQ. The questionnaire was developed by the six trainee Vietnamese scientists as part of the epidemiological training programme and formed the assessment for this module . During an award ceremony held at The University of Queensland on the final day (Figure 1), the scientists received their certificates of training. On their return to Vietnam, the scientists will be able to put their newly learnt skills into practice by conducting farm audits and surveys in each province as well as delivering a 001/04VIE on-farm training workshop in January 2007. These scientists will be responsible for developing demonstration farms for future training programmes to impart their knowledge and skills, firstly to veterinary extension workers and then to farmers. 3) Planning and implementation workshop and field visits, Hue University of Agriculture and Forestry: September 24 th October 3 rd 2006. A workshop attended by Australian and Vietnamese scientists was held in Hue in September 2006 to review the results of the questionnaire survey and develop an action plan for the standardization of housing, farrowing crates, management techniques and genetic stock to be used in small scale farming enterprises. This meeting finished just prior to the typhoon hitting the central provinces, which has been a substantial drawback to further development of the project. However, this does present an opportunity to build more appropriate, standardized housing and restock with high performance pig breeds to improve production. 4) Small holder farmer survey and selection of farms for training and development September 2006-January 2007. Surveys for Quang Nam and Thua Thien Hue were completed by Dr Duyet and Mr Toan from HUAF just prior to the typhoon hitting the Central coast and are in the process of being completed in Quang Tri and Binh Dinh provinces by NIAH and NIVR, respectively. Dr Duyet and Mr Toan from HUAF will also make visits to Quang Tri and Binh Dinh to provide some continuity of auditing with other trainees and a visit will be made by Dr Tony Fahy in January 2007 to confirm the selection of farms and audit the trainers. A pilot workshop (target group: veterinary extension workers and large farm operators), with the training provided by Vietnamese under supervision of Dr Fahy will be held at the conclusion of this field trip. Data collected from the surveys will be analysed by SPSS program from the Netherlands and once the surveys are completed for all farms, it will be entered into a web based questionnaire format to be developed in early January by Mr Andrew Bennett from The University of Qld Web Design Services. 5.3 Smallholder Benefits 1) The first stage of the train the trainers approach has been initiated. Highly trained Vietnamese scientists will now complete the small holder farm surveys and be competency tested (in country) during the next project visit in January on their ability to audit farms and deliver training courses downstream to extension workers. The best way to approach this would be to start with small groups of three to four regional scientists for each province. The training will be delivered by the two scientists from each Institute responsible for working in those provinces, and who came to Australia for training. Training will be initially supervised by Australian Scientists to ensure adequate uptake of skills and knowledge. Then the local scientists will repeat the workshop with one of the scientists who came to Australia to train more local extension people and farmers within their province. These could be repeated as required and eventually run by the local people in each province. As long as they are not too big in numbers, they should work well. 2) The survey and selection of small holder farms for upgrade in each province is in progress and Australian scientists are now familiar with the types of small holder operations that exist within each province, and from the workshop have had lengthy discussions with Vietnamese scientists on what works and what doesn’t and how they can be integrated with downstream processing of piggery effluent through biogas generation, composting and fish farming. From these discussions, several “ideal small holder piggery” models are being developed. 5.4 Capacity Building The successful training of six Vietnamese scientists in a holistic approach to small holder pig production has been a major achievement at this stage of the project. Many of these scientists have previously been specialised in certain aspects but have not had the opportunity to “put the whole package together.” These six scientists are now integral to the success of the overall project as they will be responsible for training the next cohort of recipients. This has allowed the Australian team to progress from conducting farm visits and audits themselves to more of a managerial role, ensuring that the next level of training is achieved to a high standard. 5.5 Publicity 1) CARD Newsletter: an article was submitted for the next distribution. 2) Several University news stories on training and development were published during the year: a) The University of Qld: http://www.uq.edu.au/news/index.html?article=10368 This story was picked up by The Veterinarian and Gatton Lockyer Brisbane Valley Star (attached) b) The University of Sydney http://www.usyd.edu.au/news/international/226.html?newsstoryid=1126 5.6 Project Management Operational project management continues to be shared between the 7 institutes. Each Vietnamese institute is responsible for conducting surveys and organising workshops in each of the provinces. HUAF was responsible for delivering the September workshop. The Faculty Research Projects Office in the School of Land and Food at The University of Queensland, who have many years experience in managing international agricultural research projects, is responsible for administration of the project. 6. Report on Cross-Cutting Issues 6.1 Environment Integration of effluent disposal with other value adding industries is essential for minimising impacts on the environment and maximising returns to the farmer. Several novel integrated production systems were observed during the most recent site visit, especially the combined use of digesters for biogas production, followed by the use of the processed manure in water plant and fish production. Farmers with production sites over rice flood plains have built temporary housing for at least two cycles of fattening pigs over the dry season, with the manure directly falling into the paddies below together with the integration of duck production which serves a duel purpose of weeding the rice crop. Once these are integrated into the pig production cycle by identifying the most profitable pig breeds for each province with appropriate housing modifications to improve ventilation, hygiene and most importantly the health of suckling piglets and training, significant flow-on benefits to both the environment and farmers’ livelihoods are expected. 6.2 Gender and Social Issues The results of the survey conducted in the four selected provinces will be analysed to specifically profile the role of women and children in small holder pig production enterprises. One of the six trainees to visit Australia was a female veterinary graduate (Ms Nguyen Nguyet Cam) who is currently on maternity leave. Presentations at the September workshop were given my several women in key leadership positions within the Vietnam Farmers’ Federation. Improvements in production are therefore likely to have positive flow-on benefits for gender and social issues in terms of greater job satisfaction and greater roles in management and decision- making for women. 7. Implementation & Sustainability Issues 7.1 Issues, Constraints and Options The typhoon which hit the central coast on Sunday 1 st October has presented a number of challenges and some unforseen opportunities. As reported by Dr Cargill much of the pig production infrastructure in Thua Thien Hue and Quang Nam was devastated with many farmers having to start from scratch again. This will result in some inevitable delays in the delivery of the project in these areas. However, it does present a wonderful opportunity to plan shed construction from the ground up rather than make do with existing facilities. 7.2 Sustainability Not applicable to comment on at this stage of the project. 8. Next Critical Steps Critical decisions need to be made during the next six months of the project. A meeting of Australian Scientists in Sydney is planned for the 13 th of February 2007 to determine the following: a) Farming system models to be tested: From Dr Cargill's report, the initial results of the survey and the numerous farm visits conducted during 001/04 VIE, it would appear that the ideal small holder system complies with the following: Free standing, away from the house (but not too far to lose biogas production capability) with a tiled roof, cross ventilation, 10-20 sow capacity (and/or 60-100 fatteners) and incorporating a Chinese digester for initial processing of effluent before controlled distribution into fish ponds. Excess fish can be dried and fed back to the pigs. For many districts, especially those prone to flooding at key stages during the year, the rice flood plain fattening model may be more appropriate with ducks as a sideline. More advanced farmers would raise breeders +/- fatteners and some less skilled farmers would raise fatteners only. Clearly, pigs kept in a poorly ventilated lean to at the back of the family home will never be profitable, no matter how much effort is put into training and breed improvement. Completion of the remaining surveys and dialogue with Vietnamese colleagues during the January site visit by Dr Tony Fahy will contribute to finalising the types of systems to be tested. b) Housing design: The project has allowed around $20,000 for capital improvements on the selected farms (approximately $500 per farm if 40 are chosen). There is an urgent need to know how far this subsidy will go and what minimum improvements will be required. Obviously, farrowing crate design, creep area, drip cooling systems and ventilation are most critical to achieving production targets. The cost of building from scratch needs to be determined and how much to subsidise each farmer needs to be decided. All selected farmers need to be encouraged to invest in their enterprise. It may be better to make a decision in February to choose fewer farms but subsidise housing improvements with more money. c) Choice of stock: A lot of vigorous debate occurred during workshop concerning breed choices, with high growth rate and quality (leaness) of exotic breeds vs Mong Cai's durability under the harsh conditions, but poor price and quality of meat, particularly in farming areas close to the cities. It is important to take note of Dr Cargill's suggestions and experience in other pig production projects, that in the early phases using Mong Cai or F1/F2 hybrids may be necessary until the standard of husbandry, management and production improves to the point where profit can be maximised by the introduction of exotic breeds with less risk of mortality and/or poor nutrition affecting production and profit. The project will not subsidise the farmers for purchase of breeding stock-instead farmers would have to organise to borrow money and the project should facilitate this process through contact with local government agencies. A mixture of systems could be investigated in the provinces such as the selection of six breeder +/- fattener operations (two stocked with high performance Mong Cai sows-two with F1 or F2 hybrid sows and two with exotic breeds) and four farms focused on fattener only per province. Training programmes could then be tailored to each province and production system. What works in Binh Dinh or Quang Tri might be different from what works in Thua Thien Hue. d) Nutrition: It is apparent from the farm visits and surveys that restricted feeding of both sows and fatteners is a major production constraint. Seasonal feed availability in each province will be reviewed at the meeting in February to make decisions on diet. Meetings will be planned for January with Dr John Kopinski and Dr Danny Singh who are Chief Investigators on current ACIAR projects in Vietnam, focused on nutrition and genetics. e) Health, Hygiene, Management: Providing dry, warm creep areas and appropriately designed farrowing crates seems to be critical to prevent diseases and deaths during the suckling period, particularly preweaning enteric disease. Once farms are selected, the process of obtaining swabs from piglets with diarrhoea and sending those to NIVR for diagnosis will be developed. In project 001/04VIE, NIVR has already developed the capacity to provide laboratory diagnosis for all causes of preweaning diarrhoea in pigs and has reported their findings in the most recent International Pig Veterinary Society Congress. It will be interesting to determine if the same causes of preweaning diarrhoea in large commercial piggeries in Vietnam (principally endemic rotavirus, transmissible gastroenteritis virus, colibacillosis and coccidiosis) are also prevalent in small holder operations. The most appropriate vaccination schedule needs to be agreed upon ($4000 per year is available for sow vaccinations and medications) and use of the locally produced ETEC vaccine being developed in 001/04VIE needs to be considered. 9. Conclusion It is immediately apparent that the project can’t do much to help farmers with inadequate “lean to” housing with no ventilation and little infrastructure to provide the right microclimate for both sows and offspring. It is therefore critical that all collaborators are in accord with the ideal models to be investigated and set up for monitoring in each province. By subsidising the costs of housing, the selected farmers need to be actively encouraged to invest in their enterprises, both in terms of further infrastructure and improved genetics. Systems need to be in place so that this can proceed through the right government channels and at the same time the farmer must receive appropriate and practical hands on training by Vietnamese scientists. The training workshops ideally will be located within the large piggeries identified and audited in each province, and a pilot workshop is planned as part of 001/04VIE to be held in January 2007 in the Red River delta to determine the appropriate size and level of training. In conclusion, the project is well placed to make significant inroads, having trained Vietnamese scientists appropriately, familiarised Australian collaborators with the current production systems and limitations in each province and developed a survey audit and checklist to obtain accurate data on small holder operations and large piggeries within each province. . Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development Project Progress Report 004/05VIE: Diagnosis and control of diarrhoea in suckling pigs MS2: 1 st SIX-MONTHLY REPORT. province. The training will be delivered by the two scientists from each Institute responsible for working in those provinces, and who came to Australia for training. Training will be initially. a tiled roof, cross ventilation, 1 0-2 0 sow capacity (and/ or 6 0-1 00 fatteners) and incorporating a Chinese digester for initial processing of effluent before controlled distribution into fish