Valkova Lenka, Vecerek Vladimir, Voslarova Eva, Kaluza Michal, Takacova Daniela
Department of Animal Protection and Welfare and Veterinary Public Health, Faculty of Veterinary Hygiene and Ecology, University of Veterinary Sciences Brno, 612 42 Brno, Czech Republic.
Department of Public Veterinary Medicine and Animal Welfare, University of Veterinary Medicine and Pharmacy in Kosice, 041 81 Kosice, Slovakia.
Animals (Basel). 2021 May 14;11(5):1406. doi: 10.3390/ani11051406.
The welfare of cattle, pigs, sheep and goats was assessed by measuring trauma detected during veterinary postmortem inspection at slaughterhouses. The subject of this evaluation were all bovine, porcine, ovine and caprine animals slaughtered at Czech slaughterhouses in the monitored period, i.e., a total of 1,136,754 cows, 257,912 heifers, 1,015,541 bulls, 104,459 calves, 586,245 sows, 25,027,303 finisher pigs, 123,191 piglets, 22,815 ewes, 114,264 lambs, 1348 does and 5778 kids. The data on the numbers of traumatic findings were obtained retrospectively from a national veterinary database collecting data from slaughterhouse postmortem examinations. The results showed that findings of trauma were observed at a low frequency in the studied species. Injuries were detected most frequently in cows (1.71%). In contrast, no findings associated with the presence of trauma were recorded in does and kids. From the viewpoint of trauma localization, findings on the limbs were more frequent than findings on the body ( < 0.01). The only exceptions to this were lambs, does and kids, for which there was no statistically significant difference between findings on the limbs and the body ( = 1.00). The results show that housing system (bedding, the presence of slats, floor hardness), transport of animals to the slaughterhouse (moving animals to the vehicle, loading ramps, floors in transport vehicles and the transport of animals itself) and design of the slaughterhouse (unloading ramps, passageways and slaughterhouse floors) have a greater impact on the limbs than the bodies of animals in the majority of species. A difference was also demonstrated in the occurrence of findings of trauma in the limbs and body ( < 0.01) between culled adult animals and fattened animals, namely in cattle and pigs. A difference ( < 0.01) between ewes and lambs was found only in the occurrence of traumatic injury to the limbs. The results showed that fattened animals are affected by the risk of trauma to a lesser extent than both culled adult animals and young animals. Statistically significant differences ( < 0.01) were also found between the studied species and categories of animals. The category most affected from the viewpoint of injury both to the limbs and body was cows. In contrast to cows that are typically reared indoors, the low frequency of traumatic findings was found in small ruminants and in bulls, i.e., animals typically reared outdoors. Assumedly, access to pasture may be beneficial considering the risk of traumatic injury.
通过测量在屠宰场兽医尸检期间发现的创伤来评估牛、猪、绵羊和山羊的福利状况。此次评估的对象是监测期内在捷克屠宰场屠宰的所有牛、猪、羊动物，即总共1,136,754头母牛、257,912头小母牛、1,015,541头公牛、104,459头小牛、586,245头母猪、25,027,303头育肥猪、123,191头仔猪、22,815头母羊、114,264头羔羊、1348头母山羊和5778头小山羊。关于创伤发现数量的数据是从一个收集屠宰场尸检数据的国家兽医数据库中追溯获取的。结果表明，在所研究的物种中，创伤发现的频率较低。母牛中创伤发现最为频繁（1.71%）。相比之下，母山羊和小山羊中未记录到与创伤存在相关的发现。从创伤定位的角度来看，四肢的发现比身体上的发现更为频繁（P<0.01）。唯一的例外是羔羊、母山羊和小山羊，其四肢和身体上的发现之间没有统计学上的显著差异（P = 1.00）。结果表明，饲养系统（垫料、板条的存在、地面硬度）、动物运输至屠宰场（将动物转移至车辆、装载坡道、运输车辆内的地板以及动物本身的运输）以及屠宰场的设计（卸载坡道、通道和屠宰场地面）对大多数物种动物的四肢影响比对身体的影响更大。在淘汰的成年动物和育肥动物（即牛和猪）之间，四肢和身体上创伤发现的发生率也存在差异（P<0.01）。仅在四肢创伤损伤的发生率方面发现母羊和羔羊之间存在差异（P<0.01）。结果表明，育肥动物受到创伤风险的影响程度低于淘汰的成年动物和幼龄动物。在所研究的物种和动物类别之间也发现了统计学上的显著差异（P<0.01）。从四肢和身体损伤的角度来看，受影响最大的类别是母牛。与通常在室内饲养的母牛不同，在小型反刍动物和公牛（即通常在室外饲养的动物）中创伤发现的频率较低。据推测，考虑到创伤损伤的风险，放牧可能是有益的。
