Water is vital for animals. It is indispensable for regulating body temperature, digesting food and eliminating toxins. At normal temperatures, pigs consume at least twice as much water as feed. Cleaning and disinfecting pig house water lines is at least as important as cleaning and disinfecting surfaces.
DISEASES IN DRINKING WATER
The fastest way a pathogen can spread disease in a farm and affect the majority of your livestock is through the drinking water! Contaminated drinking water can compromise the immune system of pigs. It will cause stress and disease due to constant exposure to infection. Salmonella, E coli, Streptococcus and oocysts (coccidiosis) can spread easily throughout the pig house and each drinking nipple where they eventually are consumed.
IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF DRINKING WATER
Your whole hygiene, all your health management, all your cleaning efforts can be destroyed by flawed drinking water hygiene. Together, disinfection and acidification improve the quality of drinking water.
Drinking Water Disinfection
Some problems may still occur even after complete cleaning of the water lines. In these cases the problem is often related to the water quality. Where does the water come from? Surface water such as artificial lakes or surface wells and well water often carry a high bacterial load. Trichoderma and algae are commonly found in these water sources. In this case incoming water should be continuously disinfected throughout the whole production cycle.
Acidification
Acidifying the drinking water can help to improve the quality of this ‘forgotten nutrient’. Together, acidification and disinfection improve the quality of drinking water by lowering the bacterial load (and the risk of Salmonella and Campylobacter) it can also improve performance of the animals. Lowering pH in the stomach increases protein digestibility, which increases feed conversion and weight gain. When applying a product with one single organic acid ingredient in drinking water, the pH decreases quickly and if the dosage is too high, the pH can lower too much, leading to a negative result, namely lower water intake with decreased performance.
Choosing a product which has a synergistic formulation of multiple organic acids is advised. These organic acids have superior buffering capacities and decrease pH slowly. They have a greater antibacterial effect, taste better and are less corrosive compared with a single inorganic.
Weaned piglets experience a huge stress situation (new group, other environment, other feed,...), resulting in a drop of immunity and a reduced digestive capacity. In this critical period, piglets can be supported by giving organic acids to their drinking water.
CLEANING AND DISINFECTION OF THE WATER LINES
Cleaning the water lines means removing the scale. Removing the scale is important as this can lead to biofilm formation. Everything that you put in the water line leaves residues.
The water leaves minerals behind, organic acids leave organic matter and medication and vaccines can leave carriers behind or precipitate.
All these elements form a ‘slime’ called biofilm. Biofilm is a mix of organic and inorganic ingredients in which microbes are multiplying. It can contain pathogens like Salmonella and E. coli which are sources of contamination for the drinking water. It decreases water flow and can block the drinking nipples. Biofilm can neutralize medicine and vaccines and that leads to under dosage or poor results.
When the animals are moved out of the pig barn, the water system should be emptied and then filled up again with a 2% CID 2000 Pro solution.
It is important to push on every single nipple to allow the solution to clean it. The contact time must be respected to achieve a good result. After 4-6 hours, the water system must be rinsed with clean water to flush out all the loosened dirt. Check if the product solution is removed with test strips.