A Cross-Sectional Study on the Prevalence of Footpad Dermatitis in Canadian Turkeys

Abstract

Footpad dermatitis (FPD) can be a prevalent issue in commercial turkey production. This study aimed to identify the bird, housing, and management-related factors associated with the prevalence of FPD in the Canadian turkey flocks. A questionnaire and flock health scoring system were developed and disseminated to ~500 commercial turkey farmers across Canada. Farmers were asked to score FPD on a subset of 30 birds within their flock using a 0–2 scoring scale based on severity. The prevalence of FPD in the flock was calculated as the percentage of affected birds (score 1 or 2). A multivariate linear regression modeling was used to identify the factors associated with the prevalence of FPD. Four variables were included in the final model and accounted for 26.7% of the variation in FPD prevalence among the flocks. FPD prevalence was higher with increasing bird weight (3.6 ± 1.13), higher in flocks bedded with straw (12.1 ± 7.9), higher in flocks where birds were picked up less frequently during daily inspections (11.6 ± 8.10), and higher in flocks that used feed/water additives to reduce litter moisture (20.5 ± 10.59). These findings are a preliminary exploratory assessment of risk factors related to FPD prevalence on Canadian turkey farms. While these findings emphasize the importance of litter management and the stockperson, estimates and P-values from this study should be interpreted with caution. Further, longitudinal studies with the identified variables are required to better determine their influence on FPD.

The usual suspects: Co-occurrence of integument injuries in turkey flocks

“…A cross-sectional study surveying turkey farmers across Canada was conducted to gain insight into the turkey production sector and identify risk factors for footpad dermatitis and integument injuries ( van Staaveren et al, 2020a ; Leishman et al, 2021 , 2022 ). Invitations to participate in the study were sent out to commercial turkey farmers by the Turkey Farmers of Canada (April 2019).…”

“…The survey instructed farmers to assess injuries to the head/neck ( HN ) area, back/tail ( BT ) area, and footpad ( FP ) of 30 turkeys from their flock with the help of visual aids provided in the packages ( Leishman et al, 2021 , 2022 ). Farmers were asked to select turkeys by dividing the barn in a front, middle, and back section and randomly select an equal number of birds in each of them to achieve a representative picture of the entire barn.…”

“…Various approaches have been used in turkey production to identify risk factors for integument injuries, including pecking injuries and footpad dermatitis ( Sherwin et al, 1999 ; Moinard et al, 2001 ; Mayne et al, 2007 ; Da Costa et al, 2014 ; Leishman et al, 2021 , 2022 ). Injuries can be defined in different ways including bodily damage caused by transfers of energy (e.g., Langley and Brenner, 2004 ), damage inflicted to the body by an external force (e.g., Studdert et al, 2012 ), or disturbance or damage to the structure or function of any part of the body by an external force (e.g., Youngson, 2005 ).…”

“…To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no other studies have confirmed the reported associations or further elaborated on the relationship between injuries in turkeys to date. Consequently, this study merged and analysed data from previous studies ( van Staaveren et al, 2020a ; Leishman et al, 2021 , 2022 ) to evaluate the co-occurrence of injuries located on three different body areas (footpad, head/neck, back/tail) in turkeys.…”

The Prevalence of Integument Injuries and Associated Risk Factors Among Canadian Turkeys

“…Additionally, in flocks where birds were picked up more frequently (half the time or more), the odds of having HN injuries tended to be higher. While regularly handling animals during inspections has been demonstrated to have beneficial effects in turkeys [e.g., reduction in prevalence of footpad dermatitis, (40)], there may be negative consequences for aggressive pecking. It has been demonstrated that reactivity to manual restraint has a relationship with severe feather pecking behaviors in laying hens (41,42).…”