Preventive measures ;
The upper new damage I likely a rabbit. Window screen can help with that.
The lower damage is likely a vole.
They love that tall grass around the trunk.
I believe voles pick their place for the winter when it starts to frost in the fall.
Mowing to the dirt with a weed eater in say October , and raking back all mulch and trimmings in a ~ 3- 4 ft circle to basically bare dirt . And mowing the rest short leaves them little cover. A bucket of the round pea gravel poured around the trunk helps, they can not maintain a tunnel in it.
Also the pvc pipe around the trunk offers them a place to hide.
Snow cover complicates all this , but I believe they like to hide in the grass under the snow, not so much bare ground under snow.
You may find they have ate the root bark as well.
Perches for raptors a plus.
I am not saying I don’t have grass around my apple trees, i do.
But usually where I find damage, it’s because I was to lazy to remove the habitat of voles.
I feel your pain, it’s always something .if it was easy everyone would do it.