Physical and reproductive conditions of 3,158 cull sows from 2 U.S. Midwestern
harvest facilities were assessed. Body condition, feet, shoulders, teeth, lungs, and
reproductive tracts were visually evaluated for gross lesions at harvest. Based
on the observations of this study, body condition score (BCS) was associated
with several abnormal conditions of sows. Foot-related lesions (overgrown toes,
foot pad lesions) represented the most frequently documented lesions.
Temporal associations of the interactions between lesions and BCS are un-
known. Even though causal relations were not established by this study, the
strong associations observed suggest that sows who do not respond to increased
feeding with improved BCS could reasonably be expected to have additional
lesions that may impact performance and welfare. On-farm management prac-
tices may be related to 1 or more lesions (including foot lesions) that had a high
prevalence in this study.
Farm management practices and nonhuman animal welfare could not be
evaluated with this study so no extrapolation can be given to the type of animal
housing or the antemortem behavior of these sows.