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A. Tinkle, M. E. Wilson, M. A. Parsley, M. J. Azain, C. R. Dove, 008 The effect of blunt trimming verses functional trimming on sows, Journal of Animal Science, Volume 95, Issue suppl_2, March 2017, Page 4, https://doi.org/10.2527/asasmw.2017.008
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Abstract
The object of this study was to ascertain if blunt verses functional claw trimming provided similar benefits. Twenty-one PIC (Cambrough 29) sows were used with an average claw length of 6.5 cm and dewclaw length of 6.2 cm pre trimming. Sows were trained for 3 d before recording. Sows were individually walked through a dog bone track (7.5 m long) and recorded on a pressure mat (Gaitrite) for five useable repetitions on d 0, d 4, d 8, and d 12 of the study. After d 0, sow locomotion was recorded, dewclaws were trimmed even with coronary band. Sows were recorded on d 4, and then claws were straight cut across the toe using a lopper (Blunt cut). Sows were recorded on d 8 and then were functionally trimmed. The final recording was on d 12. Recordings were analyzed using Gaitfour (Gaitrite) software to assess swing, stance, stride length, gait cycle, percent stance of gait cycle, and overall velocity. Data were analyzed using the PROC MIXED procedure of SAS as a repeated measures design with each sow serving as her own control. There was an increase from d 0 to d 12 for velocity (P < 0.003; d 0 94.8, d 8 97.62) and d 8 to d 12 (P < 0.009; d 0 94.8, d 12 105.5 cm/s), stride length (front d 0 to d 12, P < 0.003; d 8 to d 12, P < 0.035; 97.80, 99.74, 101.77 cm; rear 98.09, 99.04, 101.67 cm on d 0, d 8, and d 12, respectively) and percent stance of gait cycle (front d 0 to d 12, P < 0.0001; d 8 to d 12, P < 0.001; 69.06, 69.95, 65.68%; rear d 0 to d 12, P < 0.001; d 8 to d 12, P < 0.002; 67.49, 66.04, 64.12% on d 0, d 8, and d 12, respectively). There was a decrease from d 0 to d 12 and d 8 to d 12 for stance (front d 0 to d 12, P < 0.0001; d 8 to d 12, P < 0.0041; 0.75, 0.7, 0.66 s; rear d 0 to d 12, P < 0.0001; d 8 to d 12, P < 0.005; 0.75, 0.71, 0.6 s on d 0, d 8, and d 12 respectively) and gait cycle (front d 0 to d 12, P < 0.003; d 8 to d 12, P < 0.03; 1.08, 1.04, 0.99 s; rear d 0 to d 12, P < 0.0012; d 8 to d 12, P < 0.02; 1.11, 99.04, 1.01 s on d 0, d 8, and d 12, respectively). This illustrates that blunt cut trimming the claw is not enough to improve gait quality in the sows and functional trimming will provide better results in sow locomotion.
