The hidden costs of neglecting swine water line maintenance

“It’s not as common of a practice as it should be,” Jake Anderson, Technical Services Consultant for MWI Animal Health says. “Some people believe in it. Others don’t want to do it at all.”

What is he referring to? Water line maintenance in swine operations.

Neglecting the cleaning and disinfecting of your water lines has far reaching consequences for the health of your pigs and the efficiency and profitability of your business.

But first, a quick reminder on the 2 aspects of maintenance. For disinfectants to truly take hold, the lines must first be thoroughly cleaned. Otherwise, microorganisms can lurk beneath the buildup.

Why line maintenance might not be a priority

The most common excuse Anderson and his MWI colleagues hear from producers is they don’t want to plug the nipples on the water line. Jake points out the contradictions. “If every time you clean the water lines, you're plugging nipples, you're not cleaning your water lines frequently enough because you're letting solids accumulate.”

In the typical swine barn set-up, the lines run down the ceiling with drop hoses for the pigs to access. When solids break loose during the cleaning process, they tend to cluster in the nipples at the edge of hoses, potentially plugging them. But where do those solids come from? Something in the water supply? Additives? It circles back to the importance of consistent water line maintenance.

Best practices suggest cleaning the lines between every flow of animals, when the barn is empty. That frequency flushes out solids and lowers the chance the nipples will be blocked.

Fear of wasting time is a secondary reason swine producers give for not maintaining the water lines.  However, Anderson and his colleague Leslie McCuiston, Swine Senior Strategic Account Manager, MWI, argue it’s not valid. “It’s not that time consuming, really. You fill the line and then you walk away for a while and go do your corn or whatever you're doing at the time,” McCuiston says.

To further save time, there are cleaning agents on the market that can be safely introduced while animals are present. With significant build-up in the lines, the safe concentrations of the chlorine, chlorine dioxide, or peroxide in the cleaners won’t be enough to make difference. But for regular, low-level maintenance, low concentration formulas can be effective.

Healthy water and healthy water lines equal healthier animals

Not maintaining the water line has trickle-down effects on the health of the pigs. Water is the single largest intake for the pig, so it’s quality and quantity have big consequences on their well-being.

“We’ve got this huge focus in the industry about making sure the pig's gut is healthy and able to fight back on things. But if the water we're putting in them isn't healthy to begin with, we may be contributing to our own problem,” McCuiston explains.

But it doesn’t matter how high quality the water is if the animals can’t access as much as they need when they need it.

“Water availability is more important than water quality. If they don't have all the water they need, you're leaving performance on the table,” says Anderson.  Water intake impacts food intake. Less feed can cause slower growth rates and poor feed efficiency, leading, ultimately to longer time to market.

And when lines are contaminated, there is consistent exposure to pathogens, creating a low-level immune response in the pigs.  Even the solution, antibiotics flowing through the lines, is impacted by the conditions of the water lines. If there are bacteria growing inside the line, those antibiotics are going to attack it as they pass through. Antibiotics don’t know if they are killing bacteria inside an animal or an inanimate object. Will there be any antibiotic left for the pig who actually needs it?

The water lines support a complex ecosystem of products beyond essential drinking water—supplements, antibiotics, vaccines or other medications, etc.  When lines are not cleaned properly, there remains residuals of products that potentially interfere with each other, causing decreased efficacy. Anderson warns, “If you run certain products, you may actually be introducing a food source for the organisms living into the water lines, and you can completely stop up your entire water system.” He recalls seeing solid gelatinous masses blown out with air compressors because so many organisms had collected and thrived inside the line.

Smarter water line maintenance with MWI

Because water quality challenges and line contamination can stem from multiple sources, solving the problem requires more than simply selecting a cleaner or disinfectant. Producers need a strategy that addresses the root cause, supports their production goals, and fits the unique conditions of their operation.

Having a partner who understands line cleaning and disinfecting is essential to enabling both your business and the continued health of the pigs. “We make sure the dollars the customers are spending and the time they're investing into water line maintenance incorporate the right product and the right process to rectify the issue,” says Anderson.

He and other MWI experts know the importance of visiting and talking to producers to gain a full understanding of each operation’s water quality and water problems. Is there buildup? Is there a quality issue? Is volume sufficient but organisms interfere? All problems the right partner knows how to solve.

“What works at this barn may not work at all in this other barn because of the differences in the water quality,” notes Anderson. “We match the product to the solution.”

Currently, the prevailing attitude towards proper water line maintenance is apathy. As McCuiston puts it, “We can't see it, so we're just going to pretend like it's not there. And that's how we're going to manage it for now.”  The team at MWI is ready to release producers from that indifference.  They develop a plan specific to your site and your water.

Water line maintenance isn't a sanitation task—it's a performance strategy. Dirty lines can quietly undermine growth, treatment outcomes and production efficiency. By keeping water systems clean and functioning properly, producers can protect animal health, maximize the return on feed and medication investments, and reduce hidden costs that impact the bottom line.