The association between tail lesions and abscesses recorded at slaughter

The presence of tail lesions in slaughter pigs has been shown to be correlated to the risk of abscesses, including osteomyelitis (1, 2, 3). However, the location of abscesses associated with tail lesions has been described in only one published paper (4), which describes significant correlations between tail lesions and abscesses in the spine, peritoneum, pelvis, legs, ribs and lungs. Abscesses are costly to the pig producer because of partial or total condemnations at slaughter. In addition, i