Repeatability of a lameness scoring system for finishing pigs

Main, Dcj; Clegg, John; Spatz, A.; Green, Laura

doi:10.1136/vr.147.20.574

Cited by 130 publications

(120 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…The cow favours one or more limbs/feet 5 Severely lame The cow additionally demonstrates an inability or extreme reluctance to bear weight on one or more of her limbs/feet influence repeatability. For example, Main et al (2000) reported that the agreement of scores of experienced and inexperienced observers evaluating pigs with NRS was only 26% to 53%, whereas agreement between experienced observers was 94%. Finally, observer scores may change over time (Hollenbeck, 1978).…”

Section: Subjective Methods Of Gait Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gait assessment in dairy cattle

Flower

Weary

2009

Animal

114

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Lameness is one of the most important dairy cow welfare issues and has inspired a growing body of literature on gait assessment. Validation studies have shown that several methods of gait assessment are able to successfully distinguish cows with and without painful pathologies. While subjective methods provide an immediate, on-site assessment and require no technical equipment, they show variation in observer reliability. On the other hand, objective methods of gait assessment provide accurate and reliable data, but typically require sophisticated technology, limiting their use on farms. In this critical review, we evaluate gait assessment methods, discuss the reliability and validity of measures used to date, and point to areas where new research is needed. We show how gait can be affected by hoof and leg pathologies, treatment of these ailments and the pain associated with lameness. We also discuss how cow (e.g. conformation, size and udder fill) and environmental features (e.g. flooring) contribute to variation in the way cows walk. An understanding of all these factors is important to avoid misclassifying of cows and confounding comparisons between herds.

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Section: Subjective Methods Of Gait Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gait assessment in dairy cattle

Flower

Weary

2009

Animal

114

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“…The posture of the sow (standing, lying or dog-sitting) was noted every 15 min for the first hour after food delivery to evaluate its latency to lie (⩽30 min after feeding, between 30 and 60 min after feeding, >60 min after feeding). In the Conte, Bergeron, Grégoire, Gète, D'Allaire, Meunier-Salaün and Devillers afternoon, the same sows were walked individually at a steady pace in a corridor and their gait was assessed, using a 4-point gait score adapted from the 6-point scale of Main et al (2000) for mobile sows (0: even strides and no gait problem observed, 1: abnormal stride length, stiffness in movements, not obviously lame, 2: stride shortened, lameness detected, swagger of caudal body, 3: affected limb not in contact with the floor). The sow stride length and walking speed were calculated by dividing the length of the path (5.1 ± 0.27 m) by the number of steps or the duration of the walk, respectively.…”

Section: Farms and Animalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

On-farm evaluation of methods to assess welfare of gestating sows

Conte

Bergeron

Gregoire

et al. 2014

animal

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The objectives were to evaluate quantitative animal-based measures of sow welfare (lameness, oral stereotypies and reactivity to humans) under commercial farm conditions, and to estimate the influence of housing, sow parity and stage of gestation on the outcome of these measures. Across 10 farms, 311 sows were used. Farms differed in terms of housing design (pen v. stall), space allowance, floor type in stalls (partially v. fully slatted), and feeding system in pens (floor v. trough). Lameness was assessed in terms of gait score, walking speed, stride length, stepping behaviour, response to a stand-up test and latency to lie down after feeding. The presence of oral stereotypies and saliva foam were recorded. Reactivity to humans was assessed by approach (attempt to touch the sow between the ears) and handling tests (exit of the stall for stall-housed sows, or isolation of the animal for pen-housed sows). Only stride length and walking speed were associated with lameness in stall-housed sows (P < 0.05 and P < 0.01). In stalls, the probability that a sow was lame when it presented a short stride length (<83 cm) or a low speed (<1 m/s) was high (69% and 72%, respectively), suggesting that these variables were good indicators of lameness, but were not sufficient to detect every lame sow in a herd (sensitivity of 0.39 and 0.71, respectively). The stage of gestation and parity also influenced measures of stride length and walking speed (P < 0.05). Saliva foam around the mouth was associated with the presence of sham chewing and fixture biting (P < 0.05). The probability that a sow presents sham chewing behaviour when saliva foam around her mouth was observed was moderate (63%) but was not sufficient to detect all sows with stereotypies (41%). A high discrimination index was obtained for behavioural measures (aggressions, escapes) and vocalisations during the approach test (stalls: 78.0 and 64.0; pens: 71.9 and 75.0, respectively), the number of interventions needed to make the sow exit the stall during the handling test for stall-housed sows (74.9), and attempts to escape during the handling test for pen-housed sows (96.9). These results suggest that these measures have a good power to discriminate between sows with low and high reactivity to humans. Finally, the outcome of several measures of lameness, stereotypies and reactivity to humans were influenced by the housing characteristics, sow parity and stage of gestation. Therefore, these factors should be considered to avoid misinterpretations of these measures in terms of welfare.

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“…This suggests that sows with a gait score on the tVAS corresponding to moderately lame or severely lame (lame in at least one leg and showing compensatory behaviours) are limited in their locomotory behaviour. The results could be an indication that lameness is either absent or present, instead of present and evolving in different degrees of severity, as assumed in most gait scoring scales, including our tVAS (Main et al, 2000;Nalon et al, 2014).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 57%

“…The occurrence and severity of lameness can be determined by several methods such as visual inspection of the gait (Main et al, 2000;Nalon et al, 2014) and using kinematic techniques like pressure mats and accelerometers (Grégoire et al, 2013;Pluym et al, 2013b;Meijer et al, 2014). However, none of these methods directly evaluates the effects of lameness on the capability of locomotion.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of locomotion score on sows’ performances in a feed reward collection test

Bos

Nalon

Maes

et al. 2015

Animal

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Sows housed in groups have to move through their pen to fulfil their behavioural and physiological needs such as feeding and resting. In addition to causing pain and discomfort, lameness may restrict the ability of sows to fulfil such needs. The aim of our study was to investigate the extent to which the mobility of sows is affected by different degrees of lameness. Mobility was measured as the sow's willingness or capability to cover distances. Feed-restricted hybrid sows with different gait scores were subjected to a feed reward collection test in which they had to walk distances to obtain subsequent rewards. In all, 29 grouphoused sows at similar gestation stage (day 96.6 ± 7 s.d.) were visually recorded for gait and classified as non-lame, mildly lame, moderately lame or severely lame. All sows received 2.6 kg of standard commercial gestation feed per day. The test arena consisted of two feeding locations separated from each other by a Y-shaped middle barrier. Feed rewards were presented at the two feeders in turn, using both light and sound cues to signal the availability of a new feed reward. Sows were individually trained during 5 non-consecutive days for 10 min/day with increasing barrier length (range: 0 to 3.5 m) each day. After training, sows were individually tested once per day on 3 non-consecutive days with the maximum barrier length such that they had to cover 9.3 m to walk from one feeder to the other. The outcome variable was the number of rewards collected in a 15-min time span. Non-lame and mildly lame sows obtained more rewards than moderately lame and severely lame sows ( P < 0.01). However, no significant difference was found between non-lame and mildly lame sows ( P = 0.69), nor between moderately lame and severely lame sows ( P = 1.00). This feed reward collection test indicates that both moderately lame and severely lame sows are limited in their combined ability and willingness to walk, but did not reveal an effect of mild lameness on mobility. These findings suggest that moderately and more severely lame sows, but not mildly lame sows, might suffer from reduced access to valuable resources in group housing systems.

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Repeatability of a lameness scoring system for finishing pigs

Cited by 130 publications

References 7 publications

Gait assessment in dairy cattle

Gait assessment in dairy cattle

On-farm evaluation of methods to assess welfare of gestating sows

Effect of locomotion score on sows’ performances in a feed reward collection test

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