METHODS: A total of 1,676 12-week old pigs (n = 773 females and n = 903 males, all tail docked) were followed from arrival to the grower facilities until transferred to the finisher stage on a commercial pig farm in Ireland. Pigs were individually weighed and inspected for the severity of fresh ear and tail lesions (score 0-4) on transfer to the first grower (24.9 ± 5.33 kg, 12 weeks of age, n = 1,676 pigs), second grower (33.3 ± 7.04 kg, 14 weeks of age, n = 1,641 pigs), and finisher stage (60.2 ± 7.74 kg, 18 weeks of age, n = 1,626 pigs). Due to the low number of pigs with high scores, ear lesions were classified as no (score 0), mild (score 1), moderate (score 2) and severe (score ≥ 3) and tail lesions were classified as no (score 0), mild (score 1), and moderate-to-severe (score ≥ 2). Ear lesions were more prevalent than tail lesions at each inspection. There were approx. 19% of pigs with ear lesions at all three inspections but no pigs presented with tail lesions at all three inspections. When considering the specific severity categories, we observed 32 different ear lesion score combinations and 15 different tail lesion score combinations across the three inspections.
CONCLUSIONS: The high number of observed patterns of ear and tail lesions suggest large individual variability in lesion progression. Ear lesions were more of an issue than tail lesions and little is known about this health and welfare problem indicating that further research into causes and management strategies is needed.
方法:共有1,676只12周龄猪(n=773只雌性,n=903只雄性,所有对接的尾巴)从到达种植者设施开始,直到转移到爱尔兰一家商业养猪场的整理阶段。将猪单独称重,并在转移到第一个种植者(24.9±5.33kg,12周龄,n=1,676只猪),第二种植户(33.3±7.04千克,14周龄,n=1,641只猪),和整理器阶段(60.2±7.74kg,18周龄,n=1,626只猪)。由于高分猪数量少,耳部病变被分类为无(评分0),轻度(评分1),中度(评分2)和重度(评分≥3)和尾部病变被分类为无(评分0),轻度(评分1),和中度至重度(评分≥2)。每次检查时,耳朵病变比尾巴病变更普遍。大约有。在所有三次检查中,19%的猪具有耳损伤,但在所有三次检查中没有猪呈现尾部损伤。当考虑特定的严重性类别时,在3次检查中,我们观察了32种不同的耳部病变评分组合和15种不同的尾部病变评分组合.
结论:大量观察到的耳朵和尾巴病变模式表明病变进展的个体差异很大。耳朵病变比尾巴病变更像是一个问题,对这个健康和福利问题知之甚少,这表明需要进一步研究原因和管理策略。