Prevalence of heart lesions in cattle, pigs, sheep and goats detected during veterinary checks in slaughterhouses with respect to animal welfare

Abstract

The incidence of heart damage in cattle, pigs, sheep and goats slaughtered in slaughterhouses in the Czech Republic between 2010 and 2021 was monitored. Findings classified as acute, chronic, and parasitic were recorded during postmortem slaughterhouse examination. Significantly the highest incidence of acute heart damage was found in piglets (14.92%) and calves (4.03%) compared to other animal categories. The incidence of chronic heart damage was found to be significantly the highest for piglets (14.13%). Among fattening animals, the prevalence of chronic heart damage was significantly the highest for finisher pigs (8.19%), followed by bulls (1.33%), lambs (0.20%) and kids (0.15%). Among adult animals, the incidence of chronic heart damage was significantly the highest for cows (7.10%) followed by sows (5.21%), does (1.46%) and ewes (0.86%). Parasitic findings were rare in the period under review (< 0.2% for ewes and < 0.03% for the other monitored species and categories). In general, the highest incidence found was for chronic damage, followed by acute damage, and the lowest for parasitic damage, except for sheep, where the incidence of parasitic findings was higher than the incidence of acute findings. Overall, the highest number of pathological findings on the heart was found for piglets (29.06%), followed by calves (10.87%), i.e. culled young. Relatively high numbers of findings were also found for cows (9.84%), finisher pigs (8.43%), and sows (5.80%). For the other monitored species and categories, heart lesions were found in less than 3% of cases. The results provide insights into the overall heart health and welfare of slaughter animals.