Gaab Tara, Nogay Emily, Pierdon Meghann
New Bolton Center, Department of Clinical Studies, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, 382 West Street Road, Kennett Square, PA 19348, USA.
Large Animal Services at Marysville, Department of Veterinary Preventative Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, The Ohio State University, 16410 County Home Rd., Marysville, OH 43040, USA.
Animals (Basel). 2022 Jan 18;12(3):224. doi: 10.3390/ani12030224.
Shoulder lesions can develop in sows during lactation and vary in severity, potentially leading to euthanasia of the sow. There are questions about how these lesions affect the sow's welfare. Here, sows that were loaded into farrowing pens were monitored prospectively to elucidate the risk for lesion development. To determine whether the presence of shoulder lesions affected behavior, 44 sows with shoulder lesions (LES) were matched to controls (CON) and observed during farrowing for postures and during nursing and gestation for posture and location. Lesions were measured daily. A low weaning body condition score (BCS) increased the possibility of lesion development (OR = 4.8 ± 2.8; = 0.01). There was no difference in behavior between LES and CON with the exception of a higher frequency of postural changes in CON sows ( = 0.01). A larger maximum lesion size was associated with larger initial lesion ( < 0.01), higher weaning BCS ( < 0.001), low parity ( < 0.001), and lameness ( < 0.001). Median time to healing (24 ± 2.2 days) correlated with maximum lesion size. A low BCS during weaning increased the risk for lesion development and there were multiple factors found which influenced maximum lesion size; however, we did not find behavioral indications that lesions impacted welfare.
母猪在哺乳期可能会出现肩部损伤，损伤严重程度各异，这可能导致母猪被实施安乐死。关于这些损伤如何影响母猪福利存在一些问题。在此，对被赶入产仔栏的母猪进行前瞻性监测，以阐明损伤发生的风险。为了确定肩部损伤的存在是否会影响行为，将44头有肩部损伤的母猪（LES）与对照组（CON）进行匹配，并在产仔期间观察其姿势，在哺乳和妊娠期观察其姿势及位置。每天对损伤情况进行测量。断奶时体况评分较低会增加损伤发生的可能性（比值比=4.8±2.8；P=0.01）。LES组和CON组之间在行为上没有差异，但CON组母猪姿势变化的频率较高除外（P=0.01）。最大损伤尺寸越大，与初始损伤越大（P<0.01）、断奶时体况评分越高（P<0.001）、胎次较低（P<0.001）以及跛行（P<0.001）相关。愈合的中位时间（24±2.2天）与最大损伤尺寸相关。断奶时体况评分较低会增加损伤发生的风险，并且发现有多种因素影响最大损伤尺寸；然而，我们没有发现损伤影响福利的行为迹象。
