Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-mwx4w Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-22T16:00:06.047Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Effect of rubber mats and perforation in the lying area on claw and limb lesions of fattening pigs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 January 2018

A. Falke ,
K. Friedli ,
L. Gygax ,
B. Wechsler ,
X. Sidler  and
R. Weber
A. Falke
Affiliation:
Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office FSVO, Centre for Proper Housing of Ruminants and Pigs, Tänikon 1, 8356 Ettenhausen, Switzerland
K. Friedli
Affiliation:
Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office FSVO, Centre for Proper Housing of Ruminants and Pigs, Tänikon 1, 8356 Ettenhausen, Switzerland
L. Gygax
Affiliation:
Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office FSVO, Centre for Proper Housing of Ruminants and Pigs, Tänikon 1, 8356 Ettenhausen, Switzerland Animal Husbandry, Albrecht Daniel Thaer-Institute of Agricultural and Horticultural Sciences, Faculty of Life Sciences, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Unter den Linden 6, 10099 Berlin, Germany
B. Wechsler
Affiliation:
Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office FSVO, Centre for Proper Housing of Ruminants and Pigs, Tänikon 1, 8356 Ettenhausen, Switzerland
X. Sidler
Affiliation:
Department of Farm Animals, Division of Swine Medicine, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 260, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland
R. Weber*
Affiliation:
Agroscope, Centre for Proper Housing of Ruminants and Pigs, Tänikon 1, 8356 Ettenhausen, Switzerland
*
†E-mail: roland.weber@agroscope.admin.ch
Get access

Abstract

Claw and leg lesions are frequently observed in finishing pigs and are likely to compromise their welfare. Providing softer than the usual concrete flooring may reduce both the frequency and severity of these lesions. Therefore, this study evaluated the influence of rubber mats and floor perforation in the lying area on claw and leg health of finishing pigs. A total of 240 Swiss Large White finishing pigs from on average 24.9 kg until 102.3 kg were used in four batches, with six groups of 10 animals per batch. The six experimental pens initially measured 1.85×3.55 m and were enlarged after 6 weeks to 1.85×5.25 m. In all pens, one third of the floor space was built as a defecating area consisting of a concrete floor with 15% perforation. The remaining two thirds of the pen were designed as a lying area whose floor quality differed between the pens. It either consisted of concrete elements or was covered with rubber mats, and perforation of both floor types was either 0%, 5% or 10%. All individuals were scored for claw and leg lesions at the beginning, in the middle and at the end of the 12-week fattening period. Lesions were summarised in scores based on the results of a principal component analysis. The influence on lesion scores of floor material, amount of perforation in the lying area, assessment time, and sex was examined using mixed-models. The total claw lesion score and the total limb lesion score as well as the claw angle increased from the beginning to the end of the fattening period. The values for both scores were slightly lower for animals kept on rubber mats compared with animals kept on concrete floor. There was no effect of the percentage of perforation on the examined outcome variables. In conclusion, our results indicate that rubber mats in the lying area bring about improvements in some aspects of claw and leg health in fattening pigs, whereas there is no effect of floor perforation.

Keywords

claw lesionsleg lesionsrubber matfinishing piglying area
Type
Research Article
Information
animal , Volume 12 , Issue 10 , October 2018 , pp. 2130 - 2137
Copyright
© The Animal Consortium 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adams, OR 1974. Lameness in horses, 3rd edition. Lea and Febiger, Philadelphia, PA, USA.Google Scholar
Barton, K 2012. MuMIn: Multi-model inference. R package version 1.7.11. Retrieved on 12 December 2017 from https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/MuMIn.Google Scholar
Baumann, S, Pflanz, W, Gallmann, E and Schrader, L 2012. Assessing sow foot health in various types of housing. Landtechnik 67, 413–416.Google Scholar
Bos, E-J, Van Riet, MM, Maes, D, Millet, S, Ampe, B, Janssens, GPJ and Tuyttens, FAM 2016. Effect of rubber flooring on group-housed sows’ gait and claw and skin lesions. Journal of Animal Science 94, 2086–2096.Google Scholar
Calderon Diaz, JA, Fahey, AG, KilBride, AL, Green, LE and Boyle, LA 2013. Longitudinal study of the effect of rubber slat mats on locomotory ability, body, limb and claw lesions, and dirtiness of group housed sows. Journal of Animal Science 91, 3940–3954.Google Scholar
De Carvalho, VC, de Alencar Nääs, I, Neto, MM and Lucas de Souza, SR 2009. Measurement of pig claw pressure distribution. Biosystems Engineering 103, 357–363.Google Scholar
Ekkel, ED, Spoolder, HAM, Hulsegge, I and Hopster, H 2003. Lying characteristics as determinants for space requirements in pigs. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 80, 19–30.Google Scholar
Fox, J 2016. polycor: Polychoric and Polyserial Correlations. R package version 0.7-9. Retrieved on 12 December 2017 from https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=polycor.Google Scholar
Freeman, DB 2002. Corns and calluses resulting from mechanical hyperkeratosis. American Family Physician 65, 2277–2282.Google Scholar
Geyer, H 1979. Morphologie und Wachstum der Schweineklaue, Grundlagen für Stallbodengestaltung und Klauenpathologie. Habilitation dissertation, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.Google Scholar
Gillman, CE, KilBride, AL, Ossent, P and Green, LE 2008. A cross-sectional study of the prevalence and risk factors for bursitis in weaner, grower and finisher pigs from 93 commercial farms in England. Preventive Veterinary Medicine 83, 308–322.Google Scholar
Gillman, CE, KilBride, AL, Ossent, P and Green, LE 2009. A cross-sectional study of the prevalence of foot lesions in post-weaning pigs and risks associated with floor type on commercial farms in England. Preventive Veterinary Medicine 91, 146–152.Google Scholar
Jensen, T, Nielsen, CK, Vinther, J and D’Eath, RB 2012. The effect of space allowance for finishing pigs on productivity and pen hygiene. Livestock Science 149, 33–40.Google Scholar
Jorgensen, B 2003. Influence of floor type and stocking density on leg weakness, osteochondrosis and claw disorders in slaughter pigs. Animal Science 77, 439–449.Google Scholar
KilBride, AL 2008. An epidemiological study of foot, limb and body lesions and lameness in pigs. PhD thesis, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK.Google Scholar
Larson, G, Dobney, K, Albarella, U, Fang, M, Matisoo-Smith, E, Robins, J, Lowden, S, Finlayson, H, Brand, T, Willerslev, E, Rowley-Conwy, P, Andersson, L and Cooper, A 2005. Worldwide phylogeography of wild boar reveals multiple centers of pig domestication. Science 307, 1618–1620.Google Scholar
Lippuner, A 2012. Klauengesundheit von Schlachtschweinen, KB-Ebern und Muttersauen in der Schweiz und genetische Analyse von Klauenparametern. Doctoral dissertation, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.Google Scholar
McKee, CI and Dumelow, J 1995. A review of the factors involved in developing effective non-slip floors for pigs. Journal of Agricultural Engineering Research 60, 35–42.Google Scholar
Mouttotou, N, Hatchell, FM and Green, LE 1998. Adventitious bursitis of the hock in finishing pigs: prevalence, distribution and association with floor type and foot lesions. The Veterinary Record 142, 109–114.Google Scholar
Mouttotou, N, Hatchell, FM and Green, LE 1999a. Foot lesions in finishing pigs and their associations with the type of floor. The Veterinary Record 144, 629–632.Google Scholar
Mouttotou, N, Hatchell, FM and Green, LE 1999b. Prevalence and risk factors associated with adventitious bursitis in live growing and finishing pigs in south-west England. Preventive Veterinary Medicine 39, 39–52.Google Scholar
Newton, GL, Booram, CV, Hale, OM and Mullinix, BG 1980. Effect of four types of floor slats on certain feet characteristics and performance of swine. Journal of Animal Science 50, 7–20.Google Scholar
Oberländer, S 2016. Untersuchungen zum Vorkommen von akzessorischen Bursen bei Mastschweinen. Doctoral dissertation, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Munich, Germany.Google Scholar
Penny, R, Osborne, A and Wright, A 1963. The causes and incidence of lameness in store and adult pigs. Veterinary Record 75, 1225–1235.Google Scholar
Quinn, AJ 2014. Limb health in pigs: the prevalence and risk factors for lameness, limb lesions and claw lesions in pigs, and the influence of gilt nutrition on indicators of limb health. PhD thesis, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK.Google Scholar
Rähse, E 2006. Untersuchungen zu Klauenmaßen und Klauenveränderungen bei Mastschweinen unter Beachtung der Haltungsbedingungen. Doctoral dissertation, Justus-Liebig-University, Giessen, Germany.Google Scholar
R Core Team 2017. R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria.Google Scholar
Savary, P, Gygax, L, Wechsler, B and Hauser, R 2009. Effect of a synthetic plate in the lying area on lying behaviour, degree of fouling and skin lesions at the leg joints of finishing pigs. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 118, 20–27.Google Scholar
Scott, K, Chennells, DJ, Campbell, FM, Hunt, B, Armstrong, D, Taylor, L, Gill, BP and Edwards, SA 2006. The welfare of finishing pigs in two contrasting housing systems: fully-slatted versus straw-bedded accommodation. Livestock Science 103, 104–115.Google Scholar
Von Wachenfeldt, H, Nilsson, C and Pinzke, S 2010. Gait and force analysis of provoked pig gait on clean and fouled rubber mat surfaces. Biosystems Engineering 106, 86–96.Google Scholar
Webb, NG 1984. Compressive stresses on, and the strength of, the inner and outer digits of pigs’ feet and the implications for injury and floor design. Journal of Agricultural Engineering Research 30, 71–80.Google Scholar