WelFarmers: Solutions for raising pigs with undocked tails

The project has recently identified its first round of candidates with practices for raising pigs with undocked tails. Further information about these projects will be available in future articles.

1. More and changing rooting material: More rooting material was provided to the pigs as a preventive measure to encourage rooting of the material instead of other pigs. This resulted in improved welfare by fulfilling the natural rooting behavior and reducing painful tail biting.

2. Risk assessment tool: The tool identifies and describes risk factors and provides recommendations for optimal conditions for water, feed, rooting material, climate, health, and management. A checklist and action plan are also available.

3. Sufficient protein supply prevents tail biting: It was observed that low protein levels increase the occurrence of tail biting. When digestible protein was increased to 12.6 g/MJ or more, the number of tail bites decreased.

4. Correction and prevention of tail docking: A checklist is used to assess the possible causes of tail biting and to correct them. It assesses stocking density, enrichment material, animal interaction, environmental conditions, health status, feeding, and lesions.

5. Stop of Tail docking- Genetics matter: This farm used to use Duroc x LD genetics with few tail biting problems. They changed genetic lines and started working with female LW (L03) and male LD (L04) PIC genetics, which were more restless animals. Reducing aggressive behavior required environmental control, changes in diet, and staff intervention.

6. Never Docked a Pig Tail and Never Will: Various practices are implemented to address the underlying causes of tail biting: more space per pig, partially slatted floors, continuous access to sawdust, and providing toys. They consider high-quality feed with enough trough space for all pigs to eat simultaneously is essential.

7. Old premises and no tail biting: This older farm was renovated by adding delta heating and air conditioning was adjusted to direct airflow to the slat area. Long troughs for liquid feeding allow all pigs to eat simultaneously.

8. Pigs with Tails: The focus is to control ventilation, temperature, and humidity within specified ranges. There are long troughs for liquid feeding which allow all the pigs to eat at the same time.

9. Observing & isolating biters: To identify the biting pig, a new object is placed to observe which pigs will be interested in the object verses in the tails. Alternatively, oxytetracycline spray is placed on the tail of the bitten pig which will color the snout of the biting pig. The biting pig is then removed and isolated.

10. Reduce tail-docking by mixing pigs: This practice reduces the risk of tail biting by “diluting” the long tails among the short-tailed animals. A three-fold reduction in tail biting has been observed on the farm. The farm has gone from 7% long tails at the start to an average of 15% today.

11. Spraying a healing repellent with a small sprayer: During episodes of tail biting, the farmer sprays a healing repellent on the tails of bitten piglets using a small 5-liter sprayer slung over the shoulder with a spray lance, making it easier and more precise to apply the repellent.

12. Undocked and enriched finishers: Pigs are raised in conventional finishing barns but with a more generous floor area and provided with fibrous enrichment material. Approximately 25% of the finishers are on long troughs while the other 75% are on probe feeding.

13. Environmental variety: One side of the barn has a raised feeding/watering area on a slatted floor, accessible through doors and partially divided transversely by partitions and feeders. The central, lower part is a solid floor with straw bedding. On the opposite side is another raised gridded area, subdivided transversely into four portions accessible by means of four entrances from the area with bedding. Through four small openings, pigs can access an outdoor paddock. The variety of rooms and the availability of abundant bedding in winter allows the animals to find good thermal comfort during all seasons.

14. Happy Tail: Almost all the farms in this system have solid flooring with straw. Space allowance per head is at least 30% more than the standard. The farm uses mostly PRRS-free sows and has good biosecurity measures. The barns are organized so that the animals can rotate pens allowing the straw to be removed and totally replaced every 10 days using tractors.

15. Organic pigs with intact tail: The adoption of organic certification made it possible for this farm to start raising pigs with intact tails. Experience revealed that the critical factor during weaning was the group size. The current practice involves raising groups of no more than 25–35 animals.

16. Alternating toys to reduce tail biting: Commercial manipulable objects were alternated weekly with raw cork/agglomerate enrichments, resulting in a reduced incidence of tail-biting lesions.

17. Comparing indexes in docked and undocked pigs – different enrichments: The study aimed to evaluate the effects of tail-docking on production performance, incidence and severity of tail biting, associated treatment costs, and carcass quality at slaughter. Increased intervention, enrichment use, and carcass rejection led to an added cost of €3.55 per pig in the intact-tail group.

18. Testing mixed groups of docked tails and intact tails: Three groups were evaluated: tail docked, intact tail, and a mixed group (50% tail docked and 50% intact tail). The incidence of tail biting was consistently higher in the mixed and intact tail groups compared to the tail docked group.

19. Experimental Activity to reduce tail biting on the farm: Even though the pigs had enrichment materials (plastic balls, chains, wood, etc.) after a time these elements became uninteresting for the pigs, and they began to show interest in biting tails.

20. No tail docking in backyard farm: This farm reports no tail biting as they provide plenty of space, outdoor access in paddocks, and indoor straw bedding.

21. Raising Pigs with Intact Tails – Ethical Ideal – Tragic Ending: On average 68.9% of piglets with intact tails were affected by tail biting, and 19% of the recorded mortalities were due to tail biting.

22. Raising Pigs with Intact Tails – When ethics bites the tail: On average 60% of piglets with intact tails were affected by tail biting, the majority of which had advanced lesions and 29% of the recorded mortalities were due to tail biting. The prevalence of tail biting in the group of pigs with docked tails was 0.51%.