Impact of mechanical vs. manual catching on stress, fear, and carcass quality in slower growing broilers

This study evaluated manual and mechanical catching methods on slower growing broiler chickens on the day of processing. Ten catching events, five mechanical and five manual, were evaluated for animal welfare and an additional set of 241 catches, 128 manual and 113 machine, were analyzed to determine the effect on carcass quality. No significant difference in serum corticosterone concentration (CORT) was found between the catching methods (p = 0.9). Pre-catching CORT (15.07 ± 2.24) was significantly lower than post-catching (25.41 ± 2.22) (p < 0.001). Manually caught broilers had four times greater odds of tonic immobility (TI) than mechanically caught birds (OR 4.0, 95% CI: 1.54-10.54) (p < 0.001). Birds also had 77% lower odds of TI before being caught than after, irrespective of catching method. Manually caught birds had 19% greater risk of bruised wings (p < 0.05) and 23% greater risk of bruised legs (p < 0.05). Lower odds of TI and decreased risk of injury in the machine caught birds indicate improved welfare and carcass quality compared with manual catching. Overall, machine catching was found to improve welfare and carcass quality in these slower growing broilers.

Effect of Topical Spray Containing Lidocaine on Piglet Behaviour Post castration

Previous studies examining the impact of topical lidocaine spray on postcastration pain behavior in piglets used scan sampling for the collection of behavior data. This methodology led to inconclusive results on the efficacy of topical lidocaine spray for pain relief. This study uses continuous coding to examine the effect of topical lidocaine on piglet behavior post castration. Castrated piglets received either no pain relief or topical lidocaine spray and are compared to gilts that were handled only. Postcastration piglet behavior was continuously coded for postural behaviors, social isolation, as well as nosing and playing. Behaviors in the castrated piglets differed from those that were handled only, but the piglets that received the spray did not exhibit significantly different behaviors from castrated pigs that received no spray. Play, exploratory behavior, and continuous behavioral observations proved to be sensitive modalities for detecting alterations in behavior postcastration and revealed that topical lidocaine spray does not provide effective pain mitigation for piglets undergoing castration and would thus not be recommended as a method for providing postcastration pain relief in piglets.

Gross, histopathologic, microbiologic, and radiologic characterization of lesions associated with clinical lameness in a cohort of group-housed sows euthanized for lameness

Lameness in sows is reported as the most frequent cause of early culling from commercial farms and results in reduced productivity, economic losses, and a negative impact on animal welfare. Osteochondrosis was reported as the leading cause of lameness in North American sows and, although more recent European studies report infectious arthritis as the leading cause, lameness in US production facilities using group housing for gestating sows has not yet been evaluated. This study's aim was to characterize lesions associated with lameness in the appendicular musculoskeletal system of 26 sows euthanized for lameness using pathologic, radiologic, and microbiologic analyses. Of 178 total lesions, infectious lesions were most common (54%), predominated in distal limb segments (ie, at or distal to carpi and tarsi) and more often correlated with the clinically lame limb, whereas osteochondrosis and degenerative osteoarthritis predominated in proximal limb segments (ie, at or proximal to cubital and stifle joints) and rarely correlated with the clinically lame limb. The location and characteristics of infectious lesions, including mixed bacterial growth isolated from 22/22 orthopedic sites representing 19 sows with Trueperella pyogenes isolated in 16/22 (73%) of samples, suggest an etiologic component involving trauma. Radiography had a 70.6% sensitivity and 93.9% specificity for detecting infectious lesions affecting tarsocrural, antebrachiocarpal, and digital (ie, claw) regions combined. The frequency, type, and location of infectious lesions identified in this cohort of sows euthanized for lameness differ from previous reports, indicating the need for further investigation of the etiopathogenesis, earlier detection methods, and prevention.

Remodeling of the maternal gut microbiome during pregnancy is shaped by parity

BACKGROUND

The maternal microbiome has emerged as an important factor in gestational health and outcome and is associated with risk of preterm birth and offspring morbidity. Epidemiological evidence also points to successive pregnancies-referred to as maternal parity-as a risk factor for preterm birth, infant mortality, and impaired neonatal growth. Despite the fact that both the maternal microbiome and parity are linked to maternal-infant health, the impact of parity on the microbiome remains largely unexplored, in part due to the challenges of studying parity in humans.

RESULTS

Using synchronized pregnancies and dense longitudinal monitoring of the microbiome in pigs, we describe a microbiome trajectory during pregnancy and determine the extent to which parity modulates this trajectory. We show that the microbiome changes reproducibly during gestation and that this remodeling occurs more rapidly as parity increases. At the time of parturition, parity was linked to the relative abundance of several bacterial species, including Treponema bryantii, Lactobacillus amylovorus, and Lactobacillus reuteri. Strain tracking carried out in 18 maternal-offspring "quadrads"-each consisting of one mother sow and three piglets-linked maternal parity to altered levels of Akkermansia muciniphila, Prevotella stercorea, and Campylobacter coli in the infant gut 10 days after birth.

CONCLUSIONS

Collectively, these results identify parity as an important environmental factor that modulates the gut microbiome during pregnancy and highlight the utility of a swine model for investigating the microbiome in maternal-infant health. In addition, our data show that the impact of parity extends beyond the mother and is associated with alterations in the community of bacteria that colonize the offspring gut early in life. The bacterial species we identified as parity-associated in the mother and offspring have been shown to influence host metabolism in other systems, raising the possibility that such changes may influence host nutrient acquisition or utilization. These findings, taken together with our observation that even subtle differences in parity are associated with microbiome changes, underscore the importance of considering parity in the design and analysis of human microbiome studies during pregnancy and in infants. Video abstract.

Effect of familiarity and mixing method on gestating sow welfare and productivity in large dynamic groups

The objectives of this study were twofold: first, to investigate the effects of sow familiarity prior to mixing into a larger dynamic group of gestating sows and, second, to examine the impact of how the sows entered the pen during this mixing event. The cohort of sows was either familiar with each other because of premixing (PMIX) or unfamiliar (UMIX). This PMIX or containment of sows in a stall (UMIX), occurred from weaning until the sows were mixed into the large gestation pen 8 d later. The cohort of incoming sows was introduced either as a batched unit (BAT) or new sows were introduced into the dynamic group singly (IND) though the electronic sow feeder. Lesion severity and quantity score, lameness, and body condition score (BCS) were tracked throughout the entire gestation period for 213 sows. Overall, there was little effect of the treatment but a strong impact of parity on the outcomes. Younger animals had significantly higher risk for lesions (P < 0.001) and higher risk for more severe lesions (P < 0.001) than higher parity animals. Lower parity had an association with the risk of lameness (P < 0.05), but it had no significant effect on BCS (P > 0.05). The risk of lameness increased on days 15 and 62 compared to weaning (P < 0.001). Risk of low BCS decreased on days 62 and 113 relative to scores at weaning (P < 0.001). A degree of familiarity by day interaction was present for lesion quantity (P < 0.001) and lesion severity (P < 0.001). The risk of more lesions was higher in the premixed groups before going into the dynamic group, but equilibrated with the unmixed group after day 11, 3 d in the large dynamic pen. The highest risk for the greatest quantity of lesions peaked at day 11 then declined, but never reached the lowest level again which was measured at weaning. Despite the variability in the welfare measures, there was no significant impact of treatment or parity on sow productivity. In conclusion, our data demonstrate that a period of premixing sows and varying the method of entering sows into the pen did not have a long-term impact on the welfare of the sows or on their productivity.