Tail biting induces a strong acute phase response and tail-end inflammation in finishing pigs

Heinonen, Mari; Orro, Toomas; Kokkonen, Tuomo; Munsterhjelm, Camilla; Peltoniemi, Olli; Valros, Anna

doi:10.1016/j.tvjl.2009.02.021

Cited by 60 publications

(65 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…In general, inflammatory challenge affects AA metabolism in several species (Le Floc'h et al, 2012), for example, through synthesis of acute phase proteins. Pigs are shown to develop an acute phase reaction after being tail bitten (Heinonen et al, 2010), and some evidence of inflammation was found in the V pigs in this study (reported in Munsterhjelm et al, 2013).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 54%

Jejunal morphology and blood metabolites in tail biting, victim and control pigs

Palander

Heinonen

Simpura

et al. 2013

Animal

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Tail biting has several identified feeding-related risk factors. Tail biters are often said to be lighter and thinner than other pigs in the pen, possibly because of nutrition-related problems such as reduced feed intake or inability to use nutrients efficiently. This can lead to an increase in foraging behavior and tail biting. In this study, a total of 55 pigs of different ages were selected according to their tailbiting behavior (bouts/hour) and pen-feeding system to form eight experimental groups: tail-biting pigs (TB), victim pigs (V) and control pigs from a tail-biting pen (Ctb) and control pen (Cno) having either free access to feed with limited feeding space or meal feeding from a long trough. After euthanasia, a segment of jejunal cell wall was cut from 50 cm (S50) and 100 cm (S100) posterior to the bile duct. Villus height, crypt depth and villus : crypt ratio (V : C) were measured morphometrically. Blood serum concentration of minerals and plasma concentration of amino acids (AA) was determined. Villus height was greater in Cno than Ctb pigs in the proximal and mid-jejunum (P , 0.05), indicative of better ability to absorb nutrients, and increased with age in the proximal jejunum (P , 0.001). Serum mineral concentration of inorganic phosphate (P i ) and calcium (Ca) was lower in Ctb compared with Cno pigs, and that of P i in V compared with all the other pigs. Many non-essential AA were lower in pigs from tail-biting pens, and particularly in victim pigs. Free access feeding with shared feeding space was associated with lower levels of essential AA in blood than meal feeding with simultaneous feeding space. Our data suggest that being a pig in a tail-biting pen is associated with decreased jejunal villus height and blood AA levels, possibly because of depressed absorption capacity, feeding behavior or environmental stress associated with tail biting. Victim pigs had lower concentrations of AA and P i in plasma, possibly as a consequence of being bitten.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 54%

Jejunal morphology and blood metabolites in tail biting, victim and control pigs

Palander

Heinonen

Simpura

et al. 2013

Animal

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“…In addition, several other physiological alterations may reduce weight gain, such as increased catabolic hormone secretion (e.g., glucocorticoids), gluconeogenesis, liver synthesis of acute phase proteins and nitrogen excretion, as well as inhibited anabolic hormone synthesis by the adenohypophysis (Kelley et al 1993, Webel et al 1997. In pigs suffering cannibalism, Heinonen et al (2010) found higher levels of acute phase proteins, as compared to animals with no lesions, suggesting that the systemic dissemination of bacteria and/or bacterial toxins probably results in higher production of inϐlammatory mediators and in stronger systemic response than a single, localized tissue lesion. Weight gain reduction in pigs affected by tail biting may be explained by factors such as discomfort caused by the lesions, stress, occurrence of secondary infections and possibly lower feed intake.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of tail biting on weight gain, lesions and condemnations at slaughter of finishing pigs

et al. 2012

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The present study assessed the association of tail-biting lesions in ϐinishing pigs with weight gain, occurrence of locomotion or respiratory disorders and abscesses during ϐi-nishing period, and carcass condemnation at slaughter. The study was carried out on 4 different farms. For each animal with a tail biting lesion, two control pigs were selected. The total number of animals in the study was 312, with 104 of them being tail-bitten. Tail lesions were classiϐied according to the degree of severity into four scores: score 0 -normal tail withou lesion; score 1-3 -increasing lesion severity, and score 4 -healed lesions. Overall, the occurrence of severe tail lesions (score 3) varied from 55 to 73% of tail-bitten pigs among farms. On all farms, healing of tail lesions was observed in 95% to 100% of the animals at the evaluation performed within 41-43 days after the commencement of the study. In two out of the four evaluated farms, pigs with score of 3 showed lower weight gain (P<0.05) compared with score 0 pigs. Before slaughter, the occurrence of locomotion problems and nodules/abscesses was associated (P<0.05) with the presence of tail-biting lesions. At slaughter, tail-biting lesions were associated (P<0.05) with the presence of abscesses, lung lesions (pleuritis and embolic pneumonia) or arthritis in carcasses. Carcass condemnation was associated with the presence of tail-biting lesions (P<0.05). Overall, carcass condemnation rate was 21.4%, of which animals with tail-biting lesions accounted for 66.7% of condemnations. Among the animals diagnosed with cannibalism at farm level, only two had not healed their lesions at slaughter. The fact that there were a lot of carcass condemnations, despite the fact that tail-bitten animals had no more active lesions, suggests that different situations may be observed between the ϐield and slaughter, reinforcing the need to analyze pigs both at farm and slaughter to allow proper assessment of losses related to tail biting. Collectively, the observations of the present study show that complications associated with tail-biting found in slaughterhouses are probably underestimating ϐield prevalence.

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“…Tail biting has been described as a predisposing factor for osteomyelitis in pigs (Walker and Bilkei 2006;Martinez et al 2007;Heinonen et al 2010). This behaviour had been largely studied as an indicator of reduced animal welfare although it may be influenced by several external and internal factors such as environment, feeding, housing, male-to-female ratio, genetics, sex or age (Schroder-Petersen et al 2003;Brunberg et al 2011).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Causes and factors related to pig carcass condemnation

García‐Díez¹,

Coelho²

2014

Vet. Med. - Czech

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Ante mortem and post mortem carcass condemnation records could be of use as a potential database for the study of swine diseases, epidemiology or animal welfare. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate the causes of ante mortem rejections and post mortem carcass condemnation of pigs intended for human consumption during a 78-month period. The records considered for study were, date of slaughter, total pigs slaughtered and total number of ante mortem rejections (deaths during transportation and deaths in the pens) and post mortem carcass condemnations (osteomyelitis, caseous lymphadenitis, erysipelas, cachexia, pale, soft and exudative meat (PSE), bloody meat, muscular necrosis, purulent nephritis, purulent metritis, jaundice, meats from febrile pigs and peritonitis). The influence of several factors such as year, season, mandatory fulfilment of a food chain information form (FCIf ) and compulsory certification of swine drivers/transporters on ante mortem rejections and post mortem carcass condemnation was also studied. A total of 161 001 pigs slaughtered resulted in 238 (0.15%) ante mortem deaths, 160 763 pigs processed for meat consumption (99.7%) and 392 (0.24%) carcass condemnations. The ante mortem rejections revealed that 146 pigs (61.3%) died during transportation whereas 92 (38.7%) were rejected due to death in pens. The main causes of carcass condemnations were osteomyelitis (38.5%), granulomatous lymphadenitis (22.7%) and pleurisy/pneumonia (21.2%). A relationship was found between the month and ante mortem condemnations (P < 0.01), death losses during transport (P < 0.01) and between compulsory certification of animal transporters and deaths by transportation (P < 0.05). During the cold season, the probability of ante mortem rejections (OR = 1.84; CI 95%: 1.32-2.59) and death in pens (OR = 1.62; CI 95%: 1.02-2.57) was higher. The compulsory fulfilment of a food chain information form was not revealed to be significantly linked with the total number of carcass condemnations although the odds of ante mortem rejections were higher (OR = 2.10; CI 95%: 1.44-3.08) when it was not mandatory. Higher post mortem condemnations compared to ante mortem condemnations can be explained by the fact that several post mortem findings are asymptomatic in live animals. A progressive decrease in losses during transport was associated with on-farm improvements in animal welfare measures in addition with compulsory training of animal transporters. However, the consistent values of deaths in pens throughout the study period, with an increase during the winter, indicate a need for an improvement in the thermal conditions of the holding area in slaughterhouse. Regarding the post mortem condemnations, the improvement in animal welfare conditions may explain the decrease in osteomyelitis condemnations while the environmental origin of granulomatous lymphadenitis may be associated with region, climate or with the presence of hosts that may explain the influence of the time of year on its variations. The FCIf was i...

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Tail biting induces a strong acute phase response and tail-end inflammation in finishing pigs

Cited by 60 publications

References 29 publications

Jejunal morphology and blood metabolites in tail biting, victim and control pigs

Jejunal morphology and blood metabolites in tail biting, victim and control pigs

Influence of tail biting on weight gain, lesions and condemnations at slaughter of finishing pigs

Causes and factors related to pig carcass condemnation

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