Background: The performance of piglet weight gain is strongly dependent on the sow's ability to meet the demand for adequate milk. Postparturient disorders, especially those subsumed under the term postpartum dysgalactia syndrome (PPDS), can alter or reduce the milk production sensitively, resulting in starving piglets. The aim of this study was to gather further information about the prevalence of different bacterial species in the anterior and posterior mammary glands of sows with respect to the clinical appearance of PPDS.

Coliform mastitis (CM) is not only a serious economical and animal welfare touching problem in dairy cattle, but also in sows after farrowing. Due to this disease, the essential adequate supply with colostrum for the growth and the health of the piglets is not ensured. Besides other influencing factors, Escherichia (E.) coli is of great importance as a causative agent of this multifactorial disease. In this study, E. coli isolates from milk samples of healthy and CM-affected sows were examined for the presence of virulence genes associated with extraintestinal E. coli strains, enterotoxigenic E. coli and other pathogenic E. coli. The isolated E. coli harbored mainly virulence genes of extraintestinal E. coli strains (especially fimC, ompA, traT, hra, kpsMTII, iroN). The virulence gene spectrum for both samples from CM-affected and healthy sows did not differ significantly. Particular virulence gene profiles of E. coli isolates from diseased sows were not detected. This study provides novel insights into the role of E. coli in association with mastitis in sows since it is the first time E. coli isolates from CM-affected sows' milk were analysed for virulence genes. Because there were no differences in the prevalence of E. coli and their virulence-associated genes between healthy and diseased sows, other causative factors seem to have greater influence on the pathogenesis of porcine CM.

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The aim of the study was to investigate factors associated with coliform mastitis in sows, determined at herd level, by applying the decision-tree technique. Coliform mastitis represents an economically important disease in sows after farrowing that also affects the health, welfare and performance of the piglets. The decision-tree technique, a data mining method, may be an effective tool for making large datasets accessible and different sow herd information comparable. It is based on the C4.5-algorithm which generates trees in a top-down recursive strategy. The technique can be used to detect weak points in farm management. Two datasets of two farms in Germany, consisting of sow-related parameters, were analysed and compared by decision-tree algorithms. Data were collected over the period of April 2007 to August 2010 from 987 sows (499 CM-positive sows and 488 CM-negative sows) and 596 sows (322 CM-positive sows and 274 CM-negative sows), respectively. Depending on the dataset, different graphical trees were built showing relevant factors at the herd level which may lead to coliform mastitis. To our understanding, this is the first time decision-tree modeling was used to assess risk factors for coliform mastitis. Herd specific risk factors for the disease were illustrated what could prove beneficial in disease and herd management

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