Simulation Tests on the Effect of Floor Temperature on Leg Abrasions in Piglets

Piglets often develop lesions on their legs from repeated rubbing against the floor during suckling. To simulate this situation, a reciprocating, motor-driven apparatus was developed to rub leg specimens from stillborn piglets against different floor surfaces in a standardized way. Three experiments were conducted to examine the influence of floor temperature on tissue damage. Tissue damage was significantly greater (P < 0.001) on a warmed floor (34° C) than on a cooler one (21° C) for all three floor types tested (concrete, rubber, metal). In a more extreme comparison (Experiment 2), rates of tissue loss were two to three times greater on a 55° C concrete floor compared to a 218 C floor. In Experiment 3, tissue temperature, measured by thermocouples implanted in the skin, increased rapidly when leg specimens were rubbed repeatedly on warmed (34° C) rubber or concrete flooring material, occasionally reaching 53° C, a level sufficient to cause burn damage to skin. The results suggest that frictional heat build-up combines with floor abrasiveness to influence rates of tissue damage, and that the common practice of warming pen floors used by piglets may increase the severity of leg lesions on many floor types.