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

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.