{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,24]],"date-time":"2025-10-24T16:49:52Z","timestamp":1761324592635,"version":"3.41.2"},"reference-count":46,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,7,29]],"date-time":"2024-07-29T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1722211200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Vet. Sci."],"abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title>Introduction<\/jats:title><jats:p>Claw lesions significantly contribute to lameness, greatly affecting sow welfare. This study investigated different factors that would impact the severity of claw lesions in the sows of Brazilian commercial herds.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title><jats:p>A total of 129 herds (<jats:italic>n<\/jats:italic>= 12,364 sows) were included in the study. Herds were in the Midwest, Southeast, or South regions of Brazil. Inventory sizes were stratified into 250\u2013810 sows, 811\u20131,300 sows, 1,301\u20133,000 sows, and 3,001\u201310,000 sows. Herds belonged to Cooperative (Coop), Integrator, or Independent structures. The herd management was conducted either maintaining breeds from stock on-site (internal), or through purchase of commercially available genetics (external). Herds adopted either individual crates or group housing during gestation. Within each farm, one randomly selected group of sows was scored by the same evaluator (two independent experts evaluated a total of 129 herds) from 0 (none) to 3 (severe) for heel overgrowth and erosion (HOE), heel-sole crack (HSC), separation along the white line (WL), horizontal (CHW) and vertical (CVW) wall cracks, and overgrown toes (T), or dewclaws (DC) in the hind legs after parturition. The study assessed differences and similarities between herds using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Hierarchical Agglomerative Clustering (HAC) analysis. The effects of factors (i.e., production structure, management, housing during gestation, and region) were assessed using the partial least squares method (PLS).<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results and discussion<\/jats:title><jats:p>Heel overgrowth and erosion had the highest prevalence, followed by WL and CHW, while the lowest scores were observed for T, DC, and CVW. Herds were grouped in three clusters (i.e., C1, C2, and C3). Heel overgrowth and erosion, HSC, WL, CHW, CVW, and T were decreased by 17, 25, 11, 25, 21, and 17%, respectively, in C3 compared to C1 and 2 combined. Independent structure increased the L-Index in all three clusters. Furthermore, individual housing increased the L-Index regardless of the cluster. The results suggest that shifting toward larger, more technologically advanced herds could potentially benefit claw health. Additionally, adopting group gestation housing appears to mitigate the adverse effects on claw health, although further validation is necessary, as Brazil has only recently transitioned from individual housing practices.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fvets.2024.1400630","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,7,29]],"date-time":"2024-07-29T08:13:28Z","timestamp":1722240808000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Claw lesion status in Brazilian commercial sow herds from 2013 to 2023"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"11","author":[{"given":"Ton","family":"Kramer","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Alyssa S.","family":"Cornelison","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Alan","family":"Klein","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Mike T.","family":"Socha","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Christof","family":"Rapp","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Lucas A.","family":"Rodrigues","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Geraldo C.","family":"Alberton","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,7,29]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"451","DOI":"10.1186\/BF03547660","article-title":"The effect of claw lesions and claw infections on lameness in loose housing of pregnant sows","volume":"36","author":"Gjein","year":"1995","journal-title":"Acta Vet Scand."},{"key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"78","DOI":"10.54846\/jshap\/508","article-title":"Factors associated with claw lesions in gestating sows","volume":"15","author":"Anil","year":"2007","journal-title":"J Swine Health Prod."},{"key":"B3","first-page":"27","article-title":"Impact of lameness on productive potential of the sow","volume-title":"12th Lond Swine Conf Proc Time Change Lond Ont Can 28\u201329 March 2012.","author":"Wilson","year":"2012"},{"key":"B4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1174","DOI":"10.1017\/S1751731113000232","article-title":"Prevalence of lameness and claw lesions during different stages in thereproductive cycle of sows and the impact on reproduction results","volume":"7","author":"Pluym","year":"2013","journal-title":"Animal."},{"key":"B5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"256","DOI":"10.1016\/j.livsci.2010.09.017","article-title":"Claw lesions in lactating sows on commercial farms were associated with postural behavior but not with suboptimal reproductive performance or culling risk","volume":"136","author":"Enokida","year":"2011","journal-title":"Livest Sci."},{"key":"B6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"101","DOI":"10.17221\/3159-VETMED","article-title":"Prevalence and risk factors of claw lesions and lameness in pregnant sows in two types of group housing","volume":"56","author":"Pluym","year":"2011","journal-title":"Vet Med."},{"key":"B7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1675","DOI":"10.2527\/jas.2013-6279","article-title":"Effects of gestation housing system and floor type during lactation on locomotory ability; body, limb, and claw lesions; and lying-down behavior of lactating sows1","volume":"92","author":"Calder\u00f3n D\u00edaz","year":"2014","journal-title":"J Anim Sci."},{"key":"B8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"10","DOI":"10.1016\/j.livsci.2013.06.003","article-title":"Assessment of lameness and claw lesions in sows","volume":"156","author":"Nalon","year":"2013","journal-title":"Livest Sci."},{"key":"B9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"239","DOI":"10.54846\/jshap\/656","article-title":"Claw horn growth and wear rates, toe length, and claw size in commercial pigs: a pilot study","volume":"18","author":"Amstel","year":"2010","journal-title":"J. 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