The Potential of Post-Mortem Carcass Assessments in Reflecting the Welfare of Beef and Dairy Cattle

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Information recorded at abattoirs may be useful for informing farmers of the health and welfare of their herds. This information can also be used to identify where and when welfare problems occur in the production chain. This study aimed to determine whether welfare issues in live beef and dairy cattle were reflected in post-mortem measures. A number of ante-mortem issues, including lameness and poor body condition, were reflected in post-mortem assessments. However, these varied according to the breed of cattle. While more research is needed, the results suggest that post-mortem assessments in cattle may be useful in reflecting the welfare of the live animal. Meat inspection currently focuses on human health and food safety. Adapting meat inspection processes to allow for greater consideration of animal welfare would be beneficial given the increased public interest in the welfare of food animals. ABSTRACT: There is increasing interest in utilizing meat inspection data to help inform farmers of the health and welfare of their herds. The aim of this study was to determine whether ante-mortem measures of welfare in beef and dairy cattle (N = 305) were associated with post-mortem measures at a United Kingdom (UK) abattoir. Multiple regression analysis was used to determine the ability of ante-mortem measures of lameness, cleanliness, skin lesions, hair loss and body condition in predicting hot carcass weight and the frequency of carcass bruising. For beef cattle, lameness score (p = 0.04), cleanliness score (p = 0.02) and age (p < 0.001), were predictors of carcass bruise score while lameness score (p = 0.03), body condition (p = 0.01) and sex (p < 0.001) were predictors of hot carcass weight. For dairy cattle, sex (p < 0.001) and slaughter day (p < 0.001) were predictors of carcass bruise score while skin lesion score (p = 0.01), body condition (p < 0.001), age (p < 0.001), slaughter day (p < 0.001) and number of moves (p = 0.01) were predictors of hot carcass weight. These results suggest that recording carcass weight and carcass bruising at meat inspection may have potential as a general indicator of health and welfare status in cattle. However, animal characteristics and variables, such as slaughter day and abattoir staffing, should be taken into account when interpreting the results.