Pharmacuetical company Bayer has just launched a new patented injection for piglets in the UK, which is designed to prevent coccidiosis and iron deficiency, as well as reducing handling time and stress.
Baycox Iron, which contains 36mg/ml of toltrazuril and 182 mg/ml of gleptoferron, is now available for farmers across the UK to purchase from their vet.
Fraser Claughton, Bayer’s UK and Ireland commercial manager, said that the injection will guard against “two major concerns” for pig producers.
Because of this, piglets generally go through intense handling to treat against both these issues shortly after being born. While this is important for the best start in life, it can cause stress to the animal.
“However, the combination therapy offered in Baycox Iron can effectively address both of these concerns, while reducing the need for some handling at this time, which can make a significant improvement to piglet health and welfare,” argued Claughton.
Peter Woodhall, who farms a 240-sow unit in west Shropshire, said that his herd’s performance has been “significantly boosted” by coccidiosis prevention, adding that a ‘dual treatment’ which would also guard against iron deficiency would further improve on-farm efficiency.
“Any opportunity to cut down handling will save both time and labour for us, freeing us up to focus on other work, with the added benefit of cutting down piglet stress, which we find can be very high during the early stages,” Woodhall said.
Bayer introduced the first toltrazuril based oral solution (Baycox 5%) for swine over 20 years ago, designed to prevent the clinical signs of coccidiosis in neonatal piglets.
This new injection combines prevention of the clinical signs of coccidiosis with the prevention of iron deficiency anaemia. It is available in Europe in 100ml bottles.
