In the week of November 11th, a first interactive HIPRA workshop on good vaccination practices was organized for pig farmers in cooperation with veterinarian Katrijn Van Gansbeke, from "PORC FAVOR" vet practice.

In previous years of offering technical support, the experience of the HIPRA BENELUX technical service has been that the outcome of vaccinations is sometimes disappointing.

Not infrequently, this turns out to be due to simple mistakes such as a dysfunctional fridge, wrong needle lengths or inappropriate cleaning and disinfection of the syringes.

In this context, the HIPRA BENELUX technical service offered a complete training course for farmers based on how to prevent these simple mistakes.

The innovative part of the training was that, prior to the session, an audit on good vaccination practices was carried out on each of the participating farms. The data were used as the basis of the interactive presentation and discussion that focused on the specific problems identified.

In addition, all participating farmers had the opportunity to try a more animal-friendly vaccination method in loose-housed sows.

In conclusion, this interactive session with a group of open-minded farmers, who are continually looking for ways to improve their practices and who are fully aware of the importance of public opinion regarding swine production, was an enriching afternoon.

Moreover, at HIPRA it gave us some more food for thought as to how to support swine producers in their daily tasks.