increase farm profitability using natural immune booster pronutrients

The swine industry is a huge business in terms of livestock in the Philippines. It accounts for about 55% of the total animal industry making it the biggest contributor; however recent setbacks like ASF and unchecked importation caused a lot of damage, resulting in its negative growth.

Farms are classified into 2 groups: commercial and backyard.

To be a Commercial swine farm, the establishment/enterprise should at least fall into 1 of the following criteria:

• Tending at least 21 heads of adult and zero heads of young.
• Tending at least 41 heads of a young adult.
• Tending at least 10 heads of adult and 22 heads of young.

All farms that did not satisfy the above criteria were considered as Backyard Farm.

Swine Inventory

The country’s total swine inventory as of October 2021 was estimated at 9.87 million heads. This was 12.4% lower than the previous year’s same period with 11.27 million heads. Swine population in both backyard farms and commercial farms declined by 8.2% and 21.8% respectively. Of the total swine population, 72.1% were raised in backyard farms while the remaining 27.9% were from commercial farms. This drop is still an effect of ASF (figure 1).

In terms of inventory by region, Western Visayas recorded the highest population of 1.19 million heads. This was followed by Central Visayas with 1.14 million heads and Northern Mindanao with 1.09 million heads. These regions comprised 34.7 percent of the country’s total swine inventory (figure 2).

“For perspective, the seasonal peak in pre-ASF hog headcount was 13.1 million in the third quarter of 2018; hog inventory fell to less than 9.9 million as of the end of the third quarter in 2021,” the Department of Agriculture said.

The Department of Agriculture had confirmed the outbreak of ASF in the country in the middle of 2019 but it was in 2021 that the country felt more fully the draining effects of the hog infection.

Importation

From January to November 2021, the country imported 520.93 million kg compared to 256.01 million kg for the whole year of 2020, which was a 103% increase. The top 3 exporting countries (in order) are: Spain (128,808,305 kgs), Canada (102,622,342 kgs) and USA (64,057,158 kgs).

This scenario had mixed reactions within the Philippine government. On one end, the Department of Finance wants to continue importation since the country is still affected by ASF, which caused the high prices of pork in the market and avoid shortage. Finance Undersecretary and Chief Economist Gil S. Beltran said on Thursday, Jan. 13, that the country “definitely” needs to import pork to meet the demand and immediately compensate for the shortfall in domestic supply.

Beltran said the effects of the ASF still linger, adding that “it will take some time to recover decimated hog populations.”

On the other side are the rage of hog producers. They say they cannot recover back the losses if the government allows keeping increasing imports, also the farmers insisted that they can fill the supply and the Philippines still has enough inventory to cover the gap. The Philippine Senate supports local farmers on this issue.

Farm Gate Prices

The average farm-gate prices continue to increase (figure 3). Prices are expected to remain on the high side until the first half of the year due to supply and with the coming national elections, demand will be higher. This is one of the compelling reasons why hog farmers continue to strive on producing despite the risk of ASF.

Also, the prices in 2021 were the highest recorded in history. For this reason, meat price inflation topped 16.8 percent in 2021, the highest annual price increase of any major food item since 2012.

Nutrition – Alquermnat Immuplus a natural immune booster

In the market today, a lot is being offered to help farmers increase and strengthen the pig’s immunity, and Alquernat Immuplus stands out as a natural immunostimulant developed by Biovet S.A.

It is a natural immune booster based on plant extracts with high content of pronutrients. Pronutrients are bioactive molecules that work at a methagenetic level, increasing the synthesis of active proteins.

Alquernat Immuplus strengthens the pigs’ defense system, both specific and non-specific immunity which leads to increased resistance to infections, increased vaccine efficacy, and is an excellent complement to pharmacological treatments which is a good strategy to prevent abortion. The product has also claimed to increase colostrum quality which the piglets need most to combat disease challenges (figure 4).

Improve piglets’ immunity and farm profitability using natural immunebooster pronutrients

In these days where piglets are exposed to several bacterial al viral disorders, it is essential to add immunebooster molecules, to ensure that piglets are healthy enough to fight those challengers.

It is important to remark the piglet´s health status is directly related with their productive performance.

As an example of this, in a trial carry out in the Purdue University in the USA, showed that using Alquernat Immuplus at a dose of 1 kg/ton, in piglets from day 42 of life until day 70 of life, the final weight can be increased up to a 1.44 kg (+5.1%) per piglet and the FCR can be reduced by 0.16 (-8.42%).

Conclusion

In summary, it is a good moment for those farmers who continue with the pig production, due to the rise of the prices of the pig meat.

The use of Alquernat Immuplus, based on immunebooster pronutrients, reduces the risk of productive loses related with viral and bacterial disorders.

At the same time, the use of immunostimulant pronutrients has a positive impact on the pig’s performance, so the investment on Alquernat Immuplus is clearly rewarded.

Bibliography

• Delta Management Consultancy Services Swine Industry Report (2022)
• Philippine Statistics Authority. Swine Situation Report (2021)
• Leyco Chino S. (2022). DOF wants pork importation to continue. Manila Bulletin
• Miraflor Madeleine B. (2022). Pork Imports under MAV seen at 388, 790 MT. Manila Bulletin
• Bertsch German (2021). Use of immunostimulants pronutrients and cimenol ring in pregnant sows to improve productive parameters in the lactation stage. Veterinaria Digital. Available on: https://www.veterinariadigital.com/en/post_blog/use-of-immunostimulants-pronutrients-and-cimenol-ring-in-pregnant-sows-to-improve-productive-parameters-in-the-lactation-stage/
• Curto Albert (2019). Biovet S.A. patents its natural immune booster Alquernat Immuplus. Veterinaria Digital. Available on: https://www.veterinariadigital.com/en/noticias/natural-immune-booster-alquernat-immuplus-biovet-patent/