The Veterinary Record, Vol 138, Issue 21, 511-514
Copyright © 1996 by British Veterinary Association

Incidence, location and interrelationships between the sites of abscesses recorded in pigs at a bacon factory in Northern Ireland

¹ 15 Drumanee Road, Bellaghy, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland BT45 8LE

The position and incidence of all the abscesses detected during post mortem inspection of 75,130 bacon weight pigs were recorded. Abscesses were detected at one site only in 2·87 per cent of the carcases examined, and at more than one site in 0·26 per cent of the carcases. Tail biting was the cause of the infection in 61·7 per cent of all the carcases with lesions at more than one site. In almost all cases there was a statistically significant interrelationship between the visible abscesses at different sites.