Hog farmers need to be careful to avoid leaving cracked teeth and unprotected tails when clipping teeth and docking tails, cautions Dr. Melanie Boucher of Southwest Veterinary Service.
She bases her advice on a research study of market hogs in Portugal that identified infections that led to the condemnation of entire carcasses.
The finding about teeth is new and was discovered by examining jaw bones of carcasses condemned for osteomyelitis bacteria infection.
Her advice is:
“Teeth clipping needs to be performed with care in order to avoid cracked teeth, infection of the deeper tooth pulp and subsequent abscess formation. Further invasion into adjacent tissues such as the jaw bone can result in total carcass condemnation.
“Abscesses associated with improper teeth clipping and tail biting infections can be a source of bacteria that spread via the blood stream to vertebrae, lung and other internal organs. This again can result in total carcass condemnation.”
She also notes that slaughter inspection and monitoring could be used to point out how animal welfare management could be improved.
