Apparent prevalence and distribution of foot lesions in finishing French young bulls: A slaughterhouse cross-sectional study

Abstract

This study aimed to estimate the apparent prevalence of foot lesions and their distribution at the animal and batch levels in finishing French young bulls at slaughter, using a cross-sectional study conducted in four slaughterhouses. All 4 feet of 2102 young bulls (19.2 ± 2.4 months old) were collected and examined in spring and autumn 2023. Two methods were used to estimate lesion prevalence: a direct estimation based on all observed animals, and a logistic mixed-effects model accounting for clustering at the slaughterhouse and farm levels as random effects. The results presented here refer to the adjusted estimates, based on a subset of 1387 animals coming from 99 farms. Almost all animals were affected by at least one foot lesion. The most common included diffuse sole hemorrhages (SHD), affecting 83.1 % of animals and 99.4 % of batches, white line hemorrhages (WLH) affecting 49.5 % of animals and 97.1 % of batches, and heel horn erosion (HHE) present in 73.6 % of animals and 97.9 % of batches. Digital dermatitis (DD) affected 26.8 % of animals and approximately half the batches. Alarm lesions, potentially indicative of lameness, were observed in 30.8 % of young bulls. Among these, WLF and Bulb ulcer (BU) were more prevalent on hind feet, while other lesions showed no foot preference. Charolais young bulls showed a higher lesion prevalence than other breeds. This study provides valuable insights into foot health of finishing young bulls in France, highlighting frequent lesions in these indoor-reared animals and the presence of potentially lame individuals and widespread digital dermatitis.