Emergency Slaughter of Cattle due to Immobility

Abstract

Pi‰tukova V., I. O‰Eadalova, J. Sedlakova, P. Tomanova, I. BedaAova:Emergency Slaughter of Cattle due to Immobility. Acta Vet Brno 2004, 73: 533-538. The objective of this work was to determine the most common causes and the trend in the development of emergency slaughters of cattle due to immobility. Emergency slaughters due to immobility of cows, heifers, bulls and calves were monitored in a selected facility in the region of South Bohemia in the period between 1997 and 2002. The frequencies of the individual causes were recorded. The most common causes of emergency slaughters due to immobility were damage to the locomotor apparatus that represented 72.2% in cows, 87.2% in heifers, 92.4% in bulls, 82.5% in calves and it was also found that the most common causes are injuries to the limbs, joint and claw inflammations, pelvic injuries and paresis of hind limbs. With regard to the development trends, an increase in the disorders of the locomotor apparatus has been noted in cows (index 1.21), in heifers (index 1.13) and in bulls (index 1.16). This increase was found to be statistically significant in cows (P = 0.001); the increase was not statistically significant in heifers and in bulls. Other causes of emergency slaughters due to immobility that derive from the general bad health condition of the organism displayed a decreasing trend in cows, heifers and bulls. In calves, an increase for the disorders of the locomotor apparatus was not recorded (index 0.96). Our study indicates that the disorders of the locomotor apparatus are the major causes of emergency slaughters due to immobility in cattle. Locomotor apparatus diseases, limb injuries, joint and claw inflammations, pelvic injuries, paresis of the hind limbs, cows, heifers, bulls, calves Animal immobility may have various causes. Usually, it is the result of an ongoing disease that may affect solely the locomotor apparatus or that can have a general impact. Broom and Corke (2002) write that in dairy cattle, the mobility of animals is very frequently affected by various disorders of the limbs. B ergsten (2001) and Logue et al. (1993) present that lesions on the limbs of dairy cattle are the most usual cause of limited mobility in cattle. Immobility in the different categories of cattle as a result of handling these animals at farms, during transport and at slaughter facilities may be expressed by an increase in the number of emergency slaughters. The limited mobility to immobility in cows, heifers, bulls and calves can bring on the increased number of emergency slaughters due to immobility in these cattle categories. Emergency slaughters of cattle in the Czech Republic were studied by Veaerek et al. (2003a). The diseases of the locomotor apparatus were identified as a serious issue and they were the most common cause of emergency slaughters of cattle: 35.30% in cows, 43.07% in heifers, and 58.27% in bulls. Only in calves, the most common cause was found to be the diseases of respiratory system. The diseases of the locomotor apparatus presented 21.17%. Cattle are food animals whose pathological findings at a regular slaughter are so common that the rate of suitability of the carcasses for consumption is the lowest in comparison to the other food animal species. According to Kozak et al. (2002), they are 63.76% in calves, 79.48% in cows, 92.49% in heifers and 95.52% in bulls. Veaerek et al. (2003b) published that the slaughter facility findings in cattle carcasses in the Czech Republic are 4.45% of the non-infectious origin and 0.15% of the infectious origin