Risk factors for claw disorders in intensively finished Charolais beef cattle

Publication date: Available online 30 November 2019Source: Preventive Veterinary MedicineAuthor(s): Luisa Magrin, Marta Brscic, Leonardo Armato, Barbara Contiero, Giulio Cozzi, Flaviana GottardoAbstractThis cross-sectional study aimed at performing a risk factor analysis of on-farm housing and management factors associated with infectious and non-infectious claw disorders of intensively finished Charolais young bulls and heifers. Claws’ health condition of a total of 1305 animals belonging to 88 batches finished in farms located in the Eastern Po Valley (Italy) was assessed at slaughterhouse. Batch prevalence of feet affected by sole hemorrhage (SH) and white line abscess (WLA) was calculated and foot condition was summarized by infectious lesion (ILS) and non-infectious lesion (NILS) scores according to diseases’ etiology. Batch prevalence of feet with SH, WLA, and assigned to the worst score classes were the outcomes in the risk factor analysis. Information about rearing facilities and health management of the tested batches were gathered in each origin farm along with a dietary sample used for chemical and physical analyses. Five categorized factors and 30 continuous covariates were considered as independent predictors and a cluster analysis of the continuous covariates was performed to select the most representative ones. Percentage of feet/batch affected by SH was on average 57.0 ± 32.5% (SD) and by WLA was 9.94 ± 12.7%. Percentage of feet/batch with the wo...
Source: Preventive Veterinary Medicine - Category: Veterinary Research Source Type: research