Self-Administration of a Salmonella Vaccine by Domestic Pigs

Abstract

Hand vaccinating is time consuming and inefficient. Oral vaccines delivered by drenching are less likely to be used due to a lack of labor on farms. Current environmental enrichment (EE) technologies do not allow pigs to express natural behaviors such as rooting and getting a reward. We developed a sprayer so that domestic pigs can self-apply any liquid. By adding an attractant (pig maternal pheromone), use of EE devices can be increased. In this study, we used a Salmonellaoral vaccine to evaluate efficacy of three delivery methods: (1) Control, no vaccine, (2) hand drenching as labeled, and (3) self-administration by this EE rooting device. Commercial castrated male and female pigs (PIC genetics) All pigs sprayed themselves within 80 min of exposure to the EE device. While control pigs had little or no Salmonella serum and oral fluid IgG or IgA, hand-drenched and self-vaccinated pigs built similar levels of both serum and oral fluid IgA and IgG. We conclude we were able to significantly reduce human labor needed and achieved 100% efficacy when pigs self-administered a Salmonellavaccine. This technology would benefit commercial pigs and could assist in control of feral swine and improve domestic pig health and food safety concerns while providing an enriched environment.