How to Prevent Arthritis and Other Joint Disorders in Pigs with Livestock Supplements

Joint health is essential to the health and productivity of pigs in general. Pigs need healthy, functioning joints to mature, move about, and function naturally when raised for breeding or meat purposes. Arthritis and dropped pasterns in pigs are common and can cause impaired mobility, compromise quality of life, and affect economic return on farms.

Knowing how to assist pigs with joint function earlier on and along their life stage is essential to long-term resiliency. Quality livestock supplements, combined with diet and management, can be valuable to maintain musculoskeletal health and joint structure.

Learning About Joint Health Issues in Pigs

Pigs are big, rapidly growing animals, their rapid growth rates especially relevant in commercial production settings. Their rapid weight gain, systems of confinement, and their genetic status further stress their skeletal and joint systems.

The most prevalent joint diseases of pigs are

• Arthritis: Joint inflammation caused by infection, trauma, or degeneration with age.
• Slipped pasterns in pigs: A condition where the back of the hoof or the lower leg formation slips or hangs, impairing walking and stability.
• Deformities of the joint and the lameness: Usually caused by a deficiency of nutrients or genetic problems, impacting the walk or stand of the pig.

Such conditions are poised to compromise feed efficiency, stress, and premature culling. Better, however, is that active nutritional management and husbandry interventions can maintain joint integrity prior to the onset of more severe conditions.

The Role of Early Intervention

Early intervention in pigs prevents joint disorders. With good provision of pigs with a diet, minerals, and excellent colostrum, farmers can ensure healthy bone development from the start.

Pigs, particularly the commercial pig, exhibit a high rate of growth, placing tremendous stress on bones, joints, and ligaments. It then becomes a requirement to have a nutrition program that can support (and respond to) their increasing structural needs.

Animal feed additives will be introduced to strengthen pigs at critical development periods with specific nutrients supplementing feed and filling nutritional gaps in their diet.

Key Nutrients for Supporting Joint Function in Pigs

Select livestock supplements for joint function support and bone development with the following nutrients

• Calcium and Phosphorus: The two minerals start proper bone health and building. The ratio of the two should be correct for utilization and absorption.
• Vitamin D3: Facilitates calcium absorption and skeletal strengthening.
• Zinc and Copper: Trace minerals involved in cartilage development and connective tissue enzyme activity.
• Manganese: Collagen and cartilage synthesis.
• Amino Acids: Particularly lysine and methionine, both used in muscle function and healing of tissues.

Collagen-associated substances or hydrolyzed protein in certain instances may also be incorporated into cattle supplements to promote structure of the joints and health of connective tissue, although research is still being conducted on this in pigs.

Practical Strategies for Reducing Joint Strain

In addition to dietary supplementation, specific management will minimize physical stress that will cause joint ailments such as arthritis or dropped pasterns in pigs:

• Flooring: Hard, smooth, or abrasive floors will increase the risk of injury or joint strain. To minimize impact stress on legs and hooves, having sufficient bedding or rubber flooring will prove beneficial.
• Stocking density: Overcrowding above capacity may cause injury to the pigs. Providing enough space per animal prevents undue movement stress.
• Exercise: Providing pigs, particularly breeding pigs, some scope for movement helps to strengthen joints and tone muscles.
• Weight control: Prevention of weight gain particularly in young, fast-growing pigs is associated with minimizing excessive loading of growing joints.

Use of a mix of sound feeding programs and careful environmental adjustment maximizes healthier results throughout the life cycle of a pig.

Monitoring and Adapting Over Time

Arthritis is not a once-and-for-all disorder, but rather a continuously monitored condition. Stock handlers and farmers need to watch over pigs at all times for signs of pain, off-center gait, swelling, or refusal to move. Early treatment avoids negative results.

Collaborate closely with an animal nutritionist or vet to analyze the nutritional diets and perform needed adjustments in supplementation as the pig matures through its life, particularly for finishing, gestation, or breeding. The goal is to synchronize supplements and feed to the specific need of the pig at every stage of its life.

A Preventive Mindset Pays Off

Swine joint disease, arthritis, and dropped pasterns are not one cause and one solution. They have to be prevented overall with regard to environment, feed, breeding stock, and surveillance.

Livestock supplements will not replace good husbandry but may be a useful adjunct in their correct usage. They present dietary building blocks leading to overall structural integrity and joint health, particularly in high-stress or growth situations.

By investing in prevention instead of correction, producers can support healthier, more productive lives for their pigs and safeguard the long-term health of the operation.

Final thoughts

With technological advances in the livestock sector comes the expertise of having healthy, performing animals for life. Producers who want to make their contribution to joint function in pigs now have a livestock supplement specifically designed to provide special nutritional advantages. With nutrients carefully chosen, including those for maintenance of connective tissue structure, OptiWize Collagen Plus is an asset to producers who desire to contribute the best to their animals.

By investing in joint health now, you help ensure a stronger, more resilient herd in the future.