SoundTalks®: Enabling Early Respiratory Disease Detection and Intervention

SoundTalks^®: Enabling Early Respiratory Disease Detection and Intervention

by Boehringer Ingelheim/October 10, 2023

Respiratory disease is one of the most challenging health concerns swine producers face today and is the leading cause of mortality in nursery and grow-to-finish operations.¹ Disease prevention, early detection and intervention are key aspects of keeping pigs at peak performance.^2–4

To better supplement disease-monitoring protocols, producers can now turn to SOUNDTALKS — smart barn technology that provides always-on in-barn audio monitoring to detect signs of respiratory disease. SOUNDTALKS utilizes sophisticated algorithms and artificial intelligence to identify potential health problems in real time. This can help producers optimize labor more efficiently, leverage objective and continuous respiratory health data, and capture proven ROI through early interventions.^2-4

SoundTalks^® Does More than In-Barn Listening

Improve Performance: Research demonstrated pigs observed by SOUNDTALKS that received intervention at the earliest-possible alerts had a higher average daily gain compared to those with alerts 5 and 10 days later. It was also shown that pigs with the earliest intervention had a decrease in individual treatments.⁴

Optimize Labor: Maintaining and improving herd health in the face of labor shortages is a challenge for all of today’s industry. SOUNDTALKS can be a key piece of doing more with less, by supplementing dwindling labor resources and helping barn managers or veterinarians identify where they should direct their time and attention. SOUNDTALKS gives producers the confidence to streamline decision-making and time prioritization with real-time, objective and uninterrupted respiratory health data.

Capture ROI: When evaluated against a Standardized Economic Index (SEI) that considers a variety of swine production metrics, like finished-pig performance metrics, historical feed ingredient costs, market pig prices, and the calculated cost-to-operate (CTO) of SOUNDTALKS, research shows there can be a consistent and long-term favorable economic impact when using SOUNDTALKS. In comparing the CTO of $0.254/pig marketed for a 4,800-head finishing site against the SEI for a 154-month duration, an estimated benefit-to-cost ratio (B:C) of 6.51, ranging from 3.89 to 11.28, was shown. The B:C exceeded 2:1 for 100% of the 154-month timeline, meaning SOUNDTALKS continued to capture ROI even when market and commodity prices fluctuated.

For more information about SOUNDTALKS, contact your Boehringer Ingelheim representative or click here to explore more.

REFERENCES

¹ Swine 2012 Part 1: Baseline Reference of Swine Health and Management in the United States, 2012. National Animal Health Monitoring System, USDA APHIS, Veterinary Services

² Alonso et al. Early diagnostic capability of a sound-based monitoring technology compared to oral fluids surveillance in growing pigs, in Proceedings. Leman Swine Conf 2022.

³ Spronk A, Polson D, Playter S. Field application of cough monitor technology: A swine practitioner’s perspective, in Proceedings. 50th Annu Meet AASV 2019.

⁴ Polson D, Alonso C. A methodology for assessing the economic value of early disease detection in growing pigs, in Proceedings. AASV Annu Meet 2023.