Description of a novel fatigue syndrome of finished feedlot cattle following transportation

Abstract

Ensuring appropriate animal welfare is a high priority for the beef industry, and poorly defined abnormalities in the mobility of cattle at abattoirs have gained considerable attention recently. During the summer of 2013, abattoirs throughout the United States reported concerns about nonambulatory or slow and difficult to move cattle and cattle that sloughed hoof walls. This report describes various cattle that developed these mobility problems soon after arrival at an abattoir. Affected cattle had various clinical signs including tachypnea with an abdominal component to breathing, lameness, and reluctance to move. Some cattle sloughed 1 or more hoof walls while in lairage pens and were euthanized. Other cattle recovered after being rested overnight. Affected cattle had serum lactate concentration and creatine kinase activity increased from reference ranges. Histologic findings included diffuse necrosis of the epidermal laminae with degenerate collagen and perivascular infiltration of neutrophils in the underlying deep dermis, and were similar for digits that had and had not sloughed the hoof wall. With the exception of the sloughed hoof walls, the clinical signs and serum biochemical abnormalities observed in affected cattle were similar to those observed in pigs with fatigued pig syndrome, and we propose that fatigued cattle syndrome be used to describe such cattle. Although anecdotal evidence generated concern that cattle fed the β-adrenergic receptor agonist zilpaterol hydrochloride were at greater risk of developing mobility problems, compared with cattle not fed zilpaterol, this condition is likely multifactorial. Strategies to prevent this condition are needed to protect the welfare of cattle.

Cattle handling technique can induce fatigued cattle syndrome in cattle not fed a beta adrenergic agonist1

“…inal breathing, muscle tremors, stiff gait, reluctance to move, and increased serum lactate (LAC) and creatinine kinase (CK; Thomson et al, 2015). The clinical signs and serum biochemical abnormalities observed in FCS are similar to those observed in pigs with fatigued pig syndrome (FPS; Ritter et al, 2005).…”

“…Swine and cattle suffering from FPS and FCS have been documented to clinically recover if allowed to rest quietly (Anderson et al, 2002;Ritter et al, 2009b;Thomson et al, 2015). The results of this study would suggest that from the standpoint of animal locomotion, following a rest period in cattle showing clinical signs of FCS at abattoirs, a time between 9 and 18 h post-handling could be a time at which cattle might be moved with greater ease.…”

“…These animals required greater human-animal interaction to initiate movement. Periods of greater environmental temperature, or heat stress, appeared to increase the incidence rates of these slow-moving cattle at the abattoir (Thomson et al, 2015). Upon further investigation, it was noted that these cattle had greater serum lactate, CK concentrations, and muscle tremors, in addition to the above-mentioned clinical symptoms.…”

“…During the summer of 2013, various cattle abattoirs throughout the United States reported concerns with cattle that were slow or difficult to move (Thomson et al, 2015). These cattle exhibited reluctance to move, stiff and shortened gait, and lagging behind cohorts.…”

Pre-slaughter cattle welfare indicators for use in commercial abattoirs with voluntary monitoring systems: A systematic review

“…Due to this, some researchers have proposed to using the incidence of hoof problems and/or an automated monitoring system (e.g. cameras that detect lameness problems or fatigued animals -no ambulatory animals-) (Thomson, Loneragan, Henningson, Ensley, & Bawa, 2015) as a more reliable approach than gait analysis. However, there is little standardization regarding hoof lesion scoring (Rushen et al, 2008;van Staaveren et al, 2017).…”