Browsing by Author "Boyle, Laura A."

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    Assessment of Animal-Based Pig Welfare Outcomes on Farm and at the Abattoir: A Case Study
    (2020) Teixeira, Dayane Lemos; Salazar, Laura C.; Enriquez-Hidalgo, Daniel; Boyle, Laura A.
    The study assessed the prevalence of animal-based pig welfare outcomes on one Chilean farm and one abattoir. A total of 198 pens of slaughter pigs (9,049 pigs) were observed on farm and 54 batches (8,843 pigs) were observed at the abattoir. All assessments were conducted from outside the pen on farm and from outside the corridor where pigs were unloaded from the truck at the abattoir. Batch size and number of pigs with ear, tail and skin lesions, hernias, rectal prolapse, bursitis, and lameness were recorded. Data were analyzed using generalized linear mixed models. There was a large variation among pens on farm and among batches at the abattoir for all outcomes. Bursitis was the most prevalent outcome recorded in both locations, followed by ear lesions recorded on farm and by tail lesions recorded at the abattoir. Ear lesions' prevalence was higher on farm (P< 0.001), while tail lesions, hernia, and bursitis prevalence were higher at the abattoir (P< 0.001). Ear lesions' prevalence on farm was higher in female and mixed-sex groups than in male groups (P < 0.01), but male groups tended to have a higher tail lesions' prevalence (P< 0.1). The results show a difference in welfare outcomes, suggesting that assessment of outcomes on farm could complement ante-mortem inspections at the abattoir. However, as the same animals were not inspected in the two locations and there is the possibility of a seasonal influence on the results, the findings should be interpreted with caution and further research is required.
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    Relationship between tail lesions and lung health in slaughter pigs
    (2016) Van Staaveren, Nienke; Vale, Ana P.; Manzanilla, Edgar G.; Lemos Teixeira, Dayane; Leonard, Finola C.; Hanlon, Alison; Boyle, Laura A.
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    The capacity of ante-mortem inspection of pigs at the abattoir to predict post-mortem findings and associated financial implications: A study at batch level
    (2023) Teixeira, Dayane Lemos; Salazar, Laura C.; Boyle, Laura A.
    This study aimed to investigate the associations between severe ear, tail, and skin lesions, hernias, bursitis, and rectal prolapses and meat inspection finding in slaughter pigs, including carcass weight and financial implications associated with carcass condemnations at batch level. Data were collected from 13,296 pigs from 116 batches from a single abattoir. Spearman's correlation coefficients were calculated to analyze the degree of association between the prevalence of welfare issues and condemnation findings. The association between batch-level results of carcass weight, batch size, and the prevalence of welfare issues was analyzed using generalized linear mixed models. The prevalence of tail lesions was significantly associated with both entire (r = 0.224; p = 0.0432) and partial (r = 0.276; p = 0.0120) carcass condemnation. Batches with pigs affected by more than one welfare issue were 9.9 kg lighter than those without welfare issues (p < 0.05), which was equivalent to a potential loss of euro11.28 per pig. Our findings indicate that ante-mortem inspection could be useful to predict post-mortem findings at batch level and that welfare issues in pigs represent a financial loss to producers, as they are paid on a per kg basis and have tight margins.
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    The capacity of inspection on farm and at the abattoir to predict post-mortem outcomes in slaughter pigs: a study at animal level
    (2023) Teixeira, Dayane Lemos; Salazar, Laura; Larraín Prieto, Rafael; Boyle, Laura A.
    The aim of this study was to investigate associations between ear, tail, and skinlesions, hernias, bursitis, and rectal prolapses at the abattoir and meat inspection out-comes in slaughter pigs, including carcass condemnations and trimmings, carcassweight, and carcass quality. This was an observational study whereby pigs were man-aged according to routine practices in a single abattoir. Data were collected from1816 pigs. The relationship between animal-based welfare and post-mortem out-comes was analyzed using generalized mixed models (Proc Glimmix). Our findingsshowed that tail lesions were associated with entire carcass condemnations and trim-mings (P< 0.001), a reduction in carcass weight (P< 0.05), and a potential to impaircarcass quality by reducing muscle pH (P< 0.05), especially in carcasses from malepigs (P< 0.05). Additionally, hernias were associated with viscera condemnation(P< 0.05) and a reduction in carcass weight (P< 0.05). Therefore, our findings con-firm that ante-mortem inspection could be useful to predict post-mortem outcomesin the same pigs, especially in cases of tail lesions and hernia, which might triggerattention of the veterinary inspector in charge of the post-mortem inspection.