Skip to content
  • Select a Location
  • Search
  • Find a Rep
Menu Close Menu
  • About Us
  • Products
        • Type A Medicated Articles
          • Aivlosin® (Tylvalosin)
          • Deracin™ (Chlortetracycline)
          • Pennchlor® (Chlortetracycline)
          • Pennox® (Oxytetracycline)
          • Neo-Oxy® (Oxytetracycline, Neomycin)
          • Pennitracin® (Bacitracin)
        • Swine Vaccine
          • CircoGard®
          • Circo/MycoGard®
          • MycoGard®
          • MycoGard-1®
          • PRRSGard®
        • Water-soluble Medication
          • Aivlosin® WSG (62.5% w/w Tylvalosin as Tylvalosin Tartrate)
          • Pennchlor® 64 (Chlortetracycline)
          • Pennox® 343 (Oxytetracycline)
        • Injectables Medication
          • Tulissin® 25 (Tulathromycin injection)
          • Tulissin® 100 (Tulathromycin injection)
          • Tenotryl™ (Enrofloxacin)
  • Treatment Directory
  • Tools & Resources
        • Print Rx Labels
          • Blue Bird Labels
          • Product Labels
        • Calculate Dose
          • Water-soluble
          • Feed Medication
        • Discover Solutions
          • Efficiency in Water Solubles
          • Importance of Water Quality
          • Combatting Sow Mortality
          • Put a Stop to SRD
          • Healthcare for Cattle
  • Updates from Pharmgate

Select A Location

  • globe48x48

    Global Site

  • United-States

    United States

  • Canada

    Canada

  • Select a Location
  • Search
  • Find a Rep
Menu

Enhance efficiency with 4 R’s of water medications

 

Water medications increase efficiencies in labor, pig health, investment and antibiotic use.

When administering swine medications, there can be a lot of questions. Which medications are most effective? How much time will it take to treat the pigs? What is the cost to the operation?

Water-soluble medications answer the call effectively and efficiently because one person can provide relief to an entire barn and one medication can quickly combat targeted pathogens.

Antibiotics delivered via water as a route of administration (ROA) have increased by 4% from 2011 to 2020. In 2020, water as a ROA represented 30% of antibiotic administration[1].

Antibiotics administered via water are beneficial due to their speed, flexibility and effectiveness, says Pharmgate Technical Service Veterinarian Dr. Jeff Okones.

Implementing water-soluble medications has plenty of benefits, including these four R’s.

  1. Reduced labor

 The swine industry, like many, is facing significant labor challenges across the supply chain. Water administration is less labor-intensive for staff and lower stress for pigs. One caretaker can medicate a specific barn, or all barns on a site quickly, which ultimately reduces treatment costs. Water-soluble medications do not require individual pig handling and require only on-site mixing of medications into your water medicator.

“Water-soluble medications minimize stress because they don’t require handling pigs, which means pigs stay calm, eating and gaining,” Okones says. “Employees mix the medication and it’s delivered through the pig’s regular visit to the waterer.”

  1. Rapid relief

Swine operations need effective solutions for efficient, whole-barn control when faced with time-sensitive disease challenges. Water soluble products can be administered quickly to target specific pathogens, meaning pigs feel better faster.

“In the case of PRRSV, mortality is often caused by secondary bacterial infections while the pig’s immune system is diminished fighting the PRRSV virus,” says Okones. “By controlling bacterial pathogens, water-soluble medications help reduce mortality.”

Most pigs will continue to drink water after they have stopped eating, so using water-soluble antibiotics can provide rapid relief for multiple pathogens. Even healthy pigs consume twice as much water as feed, making water the ideal channel for delivering medications.

  1. Return on investment

Swine producers operate on razor-thin margins, where pennies per head are the difference in profitability. Operations must be effective and efficient to realize a strong return on their investment (ROI) in pig health. Using water-soluble products to target specific pathogens can be important to maintaining animal health and improving a producer’s ROI.

“Water products also can be less expensive on a per-pig basis on top of lowered labor costs,” says Okones. “They can add more value because pigs quickly feel better, so they keep gaining and performing.”

  1. Responsible dose

Water ROA supports the judicious use of antibiotics, ensuring the correct amount is delivered to the correct pig when needed. These medications also provide the flexibility to treat a single barn or all barns on an entire site. Accurate dosing saves money and supports the responsible use of antibiotics since it minimizes excess use of drugs.

Swine producers and veterinarians can count on water-soluble medications to improve health while optimizing efficiency. Reduced labor, rapid relief, return on investment and responsible dosing are important factors when making herd health decisions.

Water-soluble medications tick these boxes to make them an effective and efficient tool for operations of any size.

To learn more about Pharmgate’s water ROA products, visit https://bit.ly/PharmgateWaterMT.

Pharmgate Animal Health provides the livestock and poultry industry with a proven portfolio of technically supported, high-quality products that are the foundation of custom herd and flock health protocols. Founded in 2008, the company is headquartered in Wilmington, North Carolina, with FDA-approved pharmaceutical production facilities in Omaha, Nebraska, and CVM vaccine research and manufacturing operations in St. Paul, Minnesota. To learn more about Pharmgate Animal Health, or to find a local representative, visit Pharmgate.com.

[1] USDA 2020 Antibiotic Report.


Related posts

July 18, 2025 by Lisa Wallace

Feedstuffs in Focus || Strategies for managing PRRS in modern swine operations

Read more
July 11, 2025 by Lisa Wallace

Pharmgate Promotes Dr. Nicholas Lauterbach to Director of Technical Veterinary Services

Read more
March 27, 2025 by Lisa Wallace

Feedstuffs in Focus || Swine respiratory disease risk can be minimized, eliminated

Read more

Pharmgate Animal Health
1800 Sir Tyler Drive
Wilmington, NC 28405
Tel: 1-800-380-6099
Fax: 910-679-8368

Support
customerservice@pharmgate.com

Select a Language
Copyright © 2025 Pharmgate. All rights reserved.
  • Privacy Policy
Follow Pharmgate

This site uses cookies to provide you with a great user experience. By using Pharmgate Animal Health’s website, you accept our use of our Cookies.

USA
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.