Managing Water Quality on the Farm - Mary Foy, Proxy Clean, from the 2016 Missouri Pork Expo, February 9-10, 2016, Columbia, Missouri, USA. More presentations at http://www.swinecast.com/2016-missouri-pork-expo

1. Mary Katherine Foy

2. Are We Missing Something?

3. Six Issues That Can Be
Related To Water
 High mortality
 Enteric issues
 Poor performance
 Disease grow out after grow out
 Low vaccination effect
 Low water consumption

4. Dependence on Water
Increases When:
 Diets are high in salt
 Sows are lactating
 Ambient temperature is high
 There is an increase in crude protein in the
diet
 The pig has fever or diarrhea

5.  Minerals – Often overlooked but affect
many areas of water quality
 Bacteria – Can make pigs sick and “choke”
down water pipe size
 Fungi, Algae – Can restrict flow of water
through pipe and out drinker
What Can Be In The Water?

6.  Affect feed absorption (Sulfur)
 Change the taste of the water (Zinc)
 Cause diarrhea (Sodium+Chloride)
 Damage neuro-system (Nitrates)
 Damage Heart and liver (Nickel)
What Do Minerals Do?

7. Each Farm is its Own Ecosystem
Ask Questions
 What is the source?
 How deep is this source?
What is happening at that level underground?
 What is the mineral profile?
 Minerals are being added – some are not a
problem for the pigs, like Calcium.
 Other minerals can be harsh on intestines and
prevent proper absorption - Sulfates

8. Each Farm is its Own Ecosystem
Has there been a drought/flooding?
What is happening next door?
Can change from season to season
 No such thing as pure drinking water
Pigs already receive a balanced diet
 Certain bacteria, algae and fungus
thrive off of particular minerals (Iron)

10. Even Treated Water can
Present Challenges

11. Cross section of pipe with mineral
and bacterial buildup

12. Holding Tanks Allow
Minerals to Settle, But
Can be the Source of
Other Challenges.

13. Concrete Tanks Present Their Own Challenges

14. What Can You do About Minerals?
 Filtration (cotton, sand, carbon, RO)
 Well
 Barn
 Sedimentation Tank
 Chemical Binding

15. What Other Life are You Growing ?

16. Advantages of Closed Watering Systems
 Improved sanitation
 Reduced spillage
 Dryer manure when managed properly
 Decrease ammonia volatilization
 Eliminates daily chore of cleaning troughs

18. •Water lines less than one year old
•City water
•Still a source of Bordetella

19. Algae Bloom vs. Biofilm
 Previous slide demonstrated an obvious Algae Bloom
from the continuous use of acid products – easily
visually detected
 Biofilms are often clear and hard and therefore are
NOT always visually detectable
 One of the highest bacterial counts on a farm I ever
detected came from “squeaky clean” pipes – the
biofilm had formed a plaque

20.  Untreated water lines have biofilm
 Biofilms live on very little nutrients
 Can cause health challenges from one
production cycle to the next production cycle
 Harbors disease agents like E coli
 Once established is 10-1000x harder to remove
 Can repopulate in 2-3 days
 When we do a poor job of removal
 When we don’t treat water during grow out
 When we add food supply
The Biofilm Slime:
Source of Challenges

21. Vitamins
Electrolytes
Organic acids
Medications
Vaccines and vaccine stabilizers
Antibiotics
Lines cleaned after product use?
Lines cleaned when facilities empty?
What Influences
Biofilms?

22. Or Like This?

23. One Auburn study found
active, viable LT virus still
living in the water line 21 days
after its initial introduction

24. Chlorine is most common choice
Readily used when it enters the system
Not very effective below 65° F
Affected by pH
Does not penetrate layers of organics
Bacterial Resistance
Harsh on Equipment
Water Treatment
Chlorine

25. How pH Affects Chlorine
Ratio of Hypochlorous Acid
to Chloric Ion
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
4 5 6 7 7.4 7.5 8 9
HOCL
OCL
%
In Solution
pH of Water

26.  Acidifiers are not complete line cleaners –
they are de-scalers
 During high water usage, contact time is
minimal
 You will get fungal blooms from low pH
(thick slime)
Take home message: When using acids
don’t forget about effective cleaning
afterwards
Acids

29. What goes in the line can
determine what grows in the line

30. Use a Product Designed for Cleaning
Line cleaned with acid Line cleaned with 3% Proxy-Clean®

31. Water Line Cleaning
 When facilities are empty, power flush lines to
remove sediment and loosen heavy soils
 Prepare system to add water line cleaner
 Be sure to follow label instructions for use and
safe handling
 Take note of the proper concentration – too
little product can be a waste of time and money

32. Please remember that putting a
medicator hose into the 1 gallon
container and “dosing” the product
into the water line is only a 0.78%
solution and not the recommended
rate for cleaning when facilities are
empty

33. Line Cleaning
 Proper concentration is
a 3% solution for
cleaning lines when
facilities are empty
 Special pumps called
proportional pumps
 Qwik-Blend™

36. Cleaning when facilities are empty is
essential.
There are also methods to treat the water
while the animals are in the facilities.
This step can be vital in the nursery
Additives always need to be followed by
effective water treatment

37. The First Few Weeks Can Make Or
Break Performance
 Remember how slow the water is moving the first
few weeks
 The water will be as warm as the climate inside the
barn
 The pigs will continuously “inoculate” the same
water over and over because it is moving so slowly
How important is the water quality to you
at this point?

38. Clean Water Lines = Quality
Animals
Farms that have implemented a regular
cleaning program report:
Improved Performance
Lower Death Loss
Fewer Challenges

39. Lessons Learned
Water Basics
 Water is a very important NUTRIENT!!!
 We can control how clean the water is we give our pigs
 Quality water can be an easy and inexpensive way to
grow a better, healthier pig
 Keep it simple
 More is not always better with water treatments
 The pigs will tell you if your water program is right
The Ultimate Question: Will You Drink The
Water You Are Giving Your Pigs?