A field study with undocked tails on 15 conventional farms in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Routine tail docking is not permitted in the EU. This is documented in Council Directive 2008/120/EC, which defines the minimum standards of welfare for pigs. Nevertheless tail docking is very common in all countries with a dense pig production as a precaution to prevent tail biting. Farmers’ organisations and the ministry of agriculture in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany signed a voluntary declaration in 2014 to develop other means to avoid tail biting. It was decided to start with keeping of small groups of undocked pigs in conventional pig production.

A total of 786 pigs were observed from birth to slaughter in 15 farms. Group size varied from 30 to 94 pigs. The median size per farm was 210 sows, 1000 weaners and 1490 fatteners. In all herds i.e. health, climate conditions, feed components and water supplies and qualities were checked before raising undocked piglets. Subsequently, herd management conditions were optimised to prevent biting. Parts of the trial were open water access and two times a day pigs were fed with a handful hay or corn-silage. The farmers were trained to register tail biting marks. Once a week, an external veterinarian examined the undocked pigs. In the case of tail-biting additional enrichment material, raw-fibre feed supplement, salt licks with minerals or a lick with molasses were given.

In the compartments with undocked pigs, farmers needed more time for observation and handling biters and bitten pigs. In case of tail biting, it was very important to change the enrichment material more often. On 3 farms, tail biting was already observed before weaning. From a total of 725 piglets 22 (3%) showed lesions and 3 (0.3%) tail losses. After weaning, the median frequency per group and farm was: For necrosis 3.9%> 54.3% (6 farms), for lesions 3.3-46.7% (8 farms), for tails with blood 1.9-14.6% (9 farms) and for partial losses of tails 2.0-51.0% (11 farms). At the end of the weaner period we observed 578 (73.8%) weaners with entire tails and 50 (6.3%) weaners with small lesions and 158 (20.1%) with tail losses. Only on two farms, all undocked pigs retained entire tails until the beginning of the fattening period. By now the finishing period is not completed.

Deficiencies in food components and water supply are important triggers for tail biting. The farmers need more time to observe the undocked pigs and for treatment of biters and injured pigs. Changing enrichment material more frequently is more effective than the quantity of the material. Early identification of biters is the crucial step to stop tail biting. Until now, raising undocked piglets in conventional pig production is only recommended in small groups to acquire experience.

Disclosure of Interest: None Declared.