Guidance

Vets: testing pigs for animal health and welfare review

Updated 10 October 2024

Applies to England

Testing, sampling and advice 

Test type and sampling 

Wherever possible, sampling should happen on the date of your first review visit to the farm or as soon as possible after this visit.

If the farm routinely vaccinates, you should sample vaccinated pigs.

Testing in the review is based on oral fluid (OF) sampling. You must:

• use 5 uncoated cotton ropes to collect oral fluids from at least 30 pigs
• collect a separate oral fluid sample from each of the 5 ropes
• immediately cool the oral fluid samples to protect against degradation
• send samples to an accredited laboratory for testing
• request enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) testing on each of the 5 saliva samples to detect Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS) antibodies

If you want further information on oral fluid sample collection, you could read the guidance from Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine.

You must not:

• pool the saliva samples (a test from each rope is a requirement for funding)
• take any other type of sample (only oral fluid samples are valid)
• request any other type of testing (only ELISA testing is valid)

The number of pigs that interact with the ropes will depend on the size of the pen. There should be at least 30 across the 5 ropes but higher numbers generate better samples.

Sequencing of genetic material is not funded as part of the review. Funding will be available to test positive herds in the follow-up.

The farmer may want to re-test or do more testing based on the results of the review. These will not be funded as part of this service. Only 1 set of review tests will be funded per herd in each of the 3 years. There’s further support available through the endemic disease follow-up.

Review medicine usage (optional)

The farmer may ask you to discuss farm medicines.

You could discuss:

• recommendations about medicines used on the farm, including antibiotics and vaccinations
• how and when to use preventative medicines, and how to store them
• the value of testing over treatment and why the right diagnostics can save money

You could tell the farmer about the AHDB Medicine book for pigs.

Test sample laboratory analysis

Send the test samples to a laboratory that is UKAS accredited to ISO/IEC 17025 for PRRS enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).

A farmer will not be eligible for funding unless the laboratory meets this specification.

Find a laboratory to test for PRRS in pigs.

Test results

You should receive 5 test results, one from each of the samples. If there is one positive result among these, then the herd is considered positive for PRRS antibodies. You must:

• discuss the test results and any further action or recommendations with the farmer
• provide a positive or negative overall test result to the farmer and include the result in the summary sheet
• talk to the farmer about doing an endemic disease follow-up

What documentation you need to give the farmer

When you have completed the review, the farmer will ask you to give them:

• a written report
• a vet summary

Written report

It should include:

• laboratory test results
• advice or suggested health and welfare actions
• other findings, for example biosecurity recommendations and medicine usage
• actions to address issues from the review – this is likely to be 2 to 3 but can be more or less based on individual needs
• information about other concerns the farmer raised

The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) and Rural Payments Agency (RPA) will not ask to see the report.

Vet summary

The summary gives the information the farmer needs to make a claim. The RPA may ask to see the summary as evidence the review took place. It should be a separate document.

We suggest you use our vet summary templates for pig testing. If you choose to use your own summary template to give to the farmer, it must include:

• the species the farmer chose for the review
• the single business identifier (SBI)
• the name of the business where the review took place
• the agreement number
• the date of the vet’s last visit to the farm for the review
• the date samples last were taken for the review
• confirmation the farmer had the minimum number of animals required on the date of the review
• the number of animals samples were taken from
• the vet’s name  
• the vet’s Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) number
• the laboratory unique reference number (URN) for the test results
• the number of oral fluid samples tested
• the test results
• confirmation the vet gave the farmer a written report
• the vet’s signature and date – the signature can be digital or on paper