Ishak Sarah

Thesis summary:

This thesis investigates foot lesions in young bulls reared indoors in France, an underexplored population despite its major contribution to national beef production. Three complementary areas were developed: an estimation of the prevalence and types of lesions observed at slaughter, an analysis of the associations between foot lesions and carcass traits, and an assessment of potential risk factors based on upstream data. The results reveal a very high prevalence of lesions, both mechanical and infectious in origin. Painful lesions were associated with lower carcass weight or poorer conformation. In contrast, sole hemorrhages were associated with increased carcass weight
and better conformation.
Several risk factors were identified, including management practices (animal sourcing, season), farm type (breeder-finisher vs. specialized fattener), and breed. The postmortem slaughterhouse approach enabled access to a population that is difficult to monitor on-farm and demonstrated that young bulls are not spared from locomotor disorders. These findings highlight the need to develop
prevention strategies tailored to indoor fattening systems, to include young bulls in national health monitoring programs, and to better recognize locomotor disorders as a key animal welfare issue in beef production systems.

Keywords :

Prevalence, Lameness, Animal welfare, Health