Characterization and economic losses caused by bruis in bovine carcasses in the state of Acre

Abstract

The objective of this study was to characterize the injuries caused by bruises and evaluate the economic losses in carcasses of cattle slaughtered in a slaughterhouse, in the municipality of Rio Branco, Acre. The period from july 2020 to february 2021, two monthly visits were carried out, on random days, where 4,526 carcasses were analyzed. The presence of bruises was visually checked; the age, degree and size of the lesions, in addition, at the end of each slaughter, the distance between the municipality of origin of the animals and the slaughterhouse was verified. These lesions were later removed and weighed to quantify the damage caused. Among the carcasses analyzed, only 957 (21.12%) showed any lesion. The female category was the one that recorded the most injuries proportionally, with 172 (41%) of the 442 animals slaughtered, while 343 (25%) of the 1388 castrated males and 442 (16%) of the 2724 intact males had some injury. There was an average loss of 0.10443 kg per animal, extrapolating to the total number of cattle slaughtered in the state during the period, a loss of R$ 1.82 or U$ 0.33 per animal is estimated. Despite the low incidence, most bruises appear in the last 24 hours before slaughter, suggesting problems in pre-slaughter management. Therefore, improving animal welfare at this stage is essential to reduce these injuries and improve profitability in beef production.