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Don't withhold water the day before vaccinating. The old herdsman's trick for getting pigs to drink bitter medicated water actually works against oral vaccination. The calculated effective dose is based on repeating the predictable intake of water during the four-hour vaccination period. Excessive consumption that results from starving pigs of water will cause wasteful overdosing in some and underdosing in others.

Don't thaw the frozen vaccine at room temperature or in a refrigerator. The quick but controlled thaw achieved by using the cold-bath method helps ensure the live organism remains viable.

Don't thaw the vaccine in a microwave. Fast thawing in a microwave creates hot spots that kill the organism.

Don't line the stock-solution reservoir with garbage bags. Because the vaccine is live, care must be taken not to introduce contaminants that render it ineffective. Relying on the Ready Pack^™ stock solution reservoir avoids contamination, as well as ensures the water is dechlorinated, buffered and dyed to monitor consumption.

Don't short the dose. All commercial vaccines undergo strict, controlled testing to confirm effectiveness. Trying to get by with a dose that's lower than recommended by the manufacturer and approved by USDA can not only waste the cost of the vaccine, but also lead to ineffectiveness that compromises production.

Even if your veterinarian is tempted to perform on-farm dose-determination trials, remember commercial farms are not test farms — they're not designed to accommodate the control and precision needed to get experimental results that are likely to be repeatable from group to group.

Don't vaccinate pigs via the drinking water before they've been in the nursery at least four days, if possible. Pigs usually need several days to learn to work the drinkers, before which they won't get a full vaccine dose. It may also take a day or two for the last milk containing maternal antibodies, which could interfere with immune response, to clear the pig's gut.

Don't try to time the vaccination window by watching clinical signs. The majority of ileitis is believed to be subclinical, diarrhea can be caused by any number of other pathogens, and signs don't always immediately follow seroconversion.

Don't vaccinate pigs on the sow. Although researchers still aren't sure whether sows can pass immunity to piglets via the milk — and thus interfere with a vaccine's immune response — one recent study from Australia suggests it may be so. Enterisol^® Ileitis is approved for use only in pigs at least 3 weeks old

Don't use serological profiling to evaluate vaccine compliance. The serological response to vaccination has been shown to be inconsistent, ranging anywhere from all pigs in some studies down to none in others.

More info

Walter D.; et. al. Serologic profiling and vaccination timing for Lawsonia intracellularis. JSHAP 12(6):310-313.

Walter D.; et. al. Observations of dose dependency with Enterisol Ileitis vaccine. Proc AASV 2004:261-262.

Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica, Inc. Technical Bulletin: Guidelines for Best Application. BI S129631-TB-46 8/04.

Full dose

Underdosing = false economy

Five barns and four barns, respectively, of commercial pigs were vaccinated at placement with either a full dose or half dose of Enterisol Ileitis. Management and facilities were the same and pigs were medicated if an outbreak occurred.

Three of the four half-vaccinated barns broke with ileitis, compared to none of the fully vaccinated ones. All told, the 50-cent savings per pig in vaccine cost caused an increase of 57 cents per pig in added treatment costs, and another $3 per pig loss in reduced performance.