Papers & Articles

at slaughter. In addition, the role of osteochrondrosis and bacterial infections in the aetiology of joint condemnations in these herds was investigated. MATERIALS AND METHODS The herds were selected from the 88 integrated pig farms that were clients of one slaughter plant in southern Finland and that had sold at least 250 slaughter pigs during the first five months of 2002. In these herds, a median of 3·3 per cent (range 0·3 to 12·7 per cent) of the slaughter pigs had arthritis at meat inspection. The 25 farms with the highest arthritis percentages were selected to be case herds, and the 25 farms with the lowest percentages were selected to be control herds. Fourteen of these farms (six controls and eight cases) were excluded from the study for the following reasons: two con-trol farms were unwilling to cooperate; two control and on