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The long and short of it: A review of tail docking in farm animals
Abstract
Tail docking involves amputating a portion of the tail for a variety of reasons. We review the scientific evidence for the rationale for tail docking, a description of the different methods used, the pain response to the procedure and the effectiveness of pain alleviation, and, finally, the alternatives to tail docking and policy regarding the practice. We focus on the three main agricultural species that are tail docked as a management practice: pigs, sheep, and dairy cattle. Methods of tail docking include cutting with a knife or scalpel, cutting with a hot docking iron, or application of a constrictive rubber ring. All methods are commonly performed without analgesia or anaesthesia, and all likely result in some degree of pain. As with any procedure that alters the integrity of an animal, it is important to consider the rationale behind docking in order to evaluate if it is necessary. Tail docking in pigs is routinely conducted on commercial swine farms because it can reduce the incidence of tail biting, an injurious and undesirable behaviour. Both behavioural and physiological changes indicate that tail docking is painful in pigs, but until robust and consistent methods for preventing tail biting are identified, this procedure is likely to continue as a management practice. This approach is reflected in public policy about the procedure. There is both behavioural and physiological evidence that tail docking is painful for sheep; both responses are reduced when pain relief is provided. Prevention of fly strike is the primary reason given for tail docking sheep, but the scientific evidence to support this rationale is surprisingly sparse. Further research is required to justify tail docking of sheep as a routine practice. Dairy cattle are docked because this practice is thought to improve cow cleanliness and udder health, however, there is no scientific evidence supporting this rationale. Tail docking cattle results in relatively few behavioural or physiological indicators of pain, but docked cows are unable to effectively remove flies from their hind end. The practice of tail docking dairy cattle is banned, discouraged or declining in most industrialized countries except the US. The long-term pain associated with tail docking is not well understood in pigs, sheep or cattle. In cases where tail docking may be justified by demonstrated benefits for the animal (possibly in case of pigs and sheep), further research is needed to find either practical alternatives or ways to alleviate the pain associated with this procedure.
... Tail docking, or caudectomy, is one of the most prevalent types of mutilation, intentionally carried out on domestic animals worldwide (Sutherland & Tucker 2011). Domestic animals of different species undergo this management for different reasons. ...
... Domestic animals of different species undergo this management for different reasons. With regard to farm animals, caudectomy is viewed as a 'husbandry practice' and is commonly deployed, especially in pigs and sheep, but also in dairy cattle (Sutherland & Tucker 2011). ...
... In the UK it is common to dock sheep within the first week of life, but in more extensive systems, such as those used in New Zealand and Australia, animals are likely to be older. Tail docking is performed without the use of any type of analgesia or anaesthesia for animals under eight days of age (Sutherland & Tucker 2011). Even recognising that sheep have the capacity to feel pain and experience suffering, the vast majority of the stakeholders involved, including sheep farmers, do not express a desire to abolish it (Larrondo et al. 2018;Stamm et al. 2019;Woodruff et al. 2020). ...
Tail docking is a husbandry practice widely incorporated in sheep farms around the world. It is an irreversible mutilation that impairs animal welfare, both immediately and in the longer term. The defence of tail docking as a practice is centred around the perception that doing so contributes to the promotion of local hygiene, allowing the use of the wool, facilitating reproductive management and reducing the chances of myiasis, a disease caused by the invasion of blowfly larvae in the tissues of warm-blooded animals. However, current understanding of farm animal welfare questions the need to maintain practices such as tail docking. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of tail docking on the incidence of Cochliomyia hominivorax myiasis in sheep in an experimental flock in Brazil during a six-year retrospective cohort study. Relative risk, odds ratio and incidence rate ratio were the association measures adopted. A total of 4,318 data-points were collected and supplied the analytical model. Tail docking did not decrease the risk and, on the contrary, was found to increase the chances of sheep being affected by myiasis. The results support the hypothesis that tail docking is not a protective factor against the occurrence of myiasis and further fuel calls for a rethink of tail docking being deployed as a blanket measure in the prevention of myiasis in sheep.
... Tail docking is the amputation of the distal portion of the tail and is a common procedure in several livestock industries. It is typically a management practice to reduce disease such as myiasis (flystrike) in sheep and to prevent tail biting in pigs (Sutherland and Tucker, 2011). Amputation of the tail can be performed in several ways: including application of tight rubber rings to induce ischemia and eventual necrosis; incising the tail with a heated iron knife to cauterize the tissue and blood vessels; or surgically, by using a sharp knife or scalpel blade to cut off the tail. ...
... The use of anesthesia and analgesia varies significantly between countries and individual producers. Commonly, this practice is performed in young animals without anesthesia or analgesia due to financial and practical implications as well as the absence of evidence showing significantly improved production outcomes when analgesia is used (Sutherland and Tucker, 2011). Tail docking is acutely painful (Molony et al., 1993;Lomax et al., 2010;Sutherland and Tucker, 2011;Herskin and Di Giminiani, 2018) and there is growing evidence of chronic pain associated with the procedure (Kent et al., 1999;Di Giminiani et al., 2017b;Troncoso et al., 2018;Larrondo et al., 2019). ...
... Commonly, this practice is performed in young animals without anesthesia or analgesia due to financial and practical implications as well as the absence of evidence showing significantly improved production outcomes when analgesia is used (Sutherland and Tucker, 2011). Tail docking is acutely painful (Molony et al., 1993;Lomax et al., 2010;Sutherland and Tucker, 2011;Herskin and Di Giminiani, 2018) and there is growing evidence of chronic pain associated with the procedure (Kent et al., 1999;Di Giminiani et al., 2017b;Troncoso et al., 2018;Larrondo et al., 2019). ...
Communication between the central nervous system (CNS) and the immune system has gained much attention for its fundamental role in the development of chronic and pathological pain in humans and rodent models. Following peripheral nerve injury, neuroimmune signaling within the CNS plays an important role in the pathophysiological changes in pain sensitivity that lead to chronic pain. In production animals, routine husbandry procedures such as tail docking and castration, often involve some degree of inflammation and peripheral nerve injury and consequently may lead to chronic pain. Our understanding of chronic pain in animals is limited by the difficulty in measuring this pathological pain state. In light of this, we have reviewed the current understanding of chronic pain in production animals. We discuss our ability to measure pain and the implications this has on animal welfare and production outcomes. Further research into the neuroimmune interface in production animals will improve our fundamental understanding of chronic pain and better inform human clinical pain management and animal husbandry practices and interventions.
... Tail docking is performed routinely worldwide to prevent tail biting [13,[55][56][57][58][59]. In the EU, over 90% of pigs are tail-docked, despite a ban on routine docking [60,61]. ...
... In the EU, over 90% of pigs are tail-docked, despite a ban on routine docking [60,61]. Tail docking means that a part of the tail is cut off, usually without pain mitigation [59,62]. It is usually performed in the course of piglet processing in the first days of life, often together with other procedures, such as teeth resection [31]. ...
... Several tools are used for tail docking, such as teeth clippers, pliers, scissors, scalpels, or cautery irons [59]. An additional method involves rubber ring tail docking, during which a constrictive rubber ring is attached to the tail [63]. ...
Piglets often undergo several painful treatments during the initial days of their lives. In this review, we investigate the acute (i.e., immediate), short-, and long-term implications of piglet processing on behavioral, physiological, clinical, and performance parameters, and how welfare impairments depend on performance instead of sham procedure, alternative techniques, or the age of the piglets. Welfare indicators that have been used to determine the least distressing procedures and knowledge gaps with regard to the procedures are identified and discussed. Tail docking and especially piglet castration have been the most researched topics, whereas marking for identification has been rarely addressed. Few or no studies have investigated the effects of teeth resection and tail docking on piglets of different age groups. Additionally, results are often found to be inconsistent, highlighting the need for additional research to determine the optimal age for processing. Studies comparing different processing techniques have produced contradictory results, but ear notching, teeth clipping, hot cautery tail docking, and tearing during castration have been determined to result in increased pain. Generally, a shorter procedure duration can reduce stress, with operator training having a distinct impact on piglet welfare during processing. As such, these topics should be further investigated.
... Piglets' tails are docked to prevent tail biting, an injurious and undesirable behavior. In lambs, tails are docked to reduce the risk of flystrike, a painful condition, although there is sparse evidence to support this rationale (Sutherland and Tucker, 2011;Orihuela and Ungerfeld, 2019). Tail docking is also performed on some dairy cattle operations because it is thought to improve udder cleanliness. ...
... Tail docking is also performed on some dairy cattle operations because it is thought to improve udder cleanliness. However, this purported benefit has been widely disproven and legislative and non-legislative initiatives have resulted in the practice being discontinued on dairies in many countries (Sutherland and Tucker, 2011). ...
... Tail docking is an acutely painful procedure that may induce chronic pain (Sutherland and Tucker, 2011). Neuromas have been observed in docked tails of lambs (French and Morgan, 1992), piglets (Simonsen et al., 1991;Herskin et al., 2015;Sandercock et al., 2016), and heifers (Eicher et al., 2006). ...
Farm animals routinely undergo painful husbandry procedures early in life, including disbudding and castration in calves and goat kids, tail docking and castration in piglets and lambs, and beak trimming in chicks. In rodents, inflammatory events soon after birth, when physiological systems are developing and sensitive to perturbation, can profoundly alter phenotypic outcomes later in life. This review summarizes the current state of research on long-term phenotypic consequences of neonatal painful procedures in rodents and farm animals, and discusses the implications for farm animal welfare. Rodents exposed to early life inflammation show a hypo-/hyper-responsive profile to pain-, fear-, and anxiety-inducing stimuli, manifesting as an initial attenuation in responses that transitions into hyperresponsivity with increasing age or cumulative stress. Neonatal inflammation also predisposes rodents to cognitive, social, and reproductive deficits, and there is some evidence that adverse effects may be passed to offspring. The outcomes of neonatal inflammation are modulated by injury etiology, age at the time of injury and time of testing, sex, pain management, and rearing environment. Equivalent research examining long-term phenotypic consequences of early life painful procedures in farm animals is greatly lacking, despite obvious implications for welfare and performance. Improved understanding of how these procedures shape phenotypes will inform efforts to mitigate negative outcomes through reduction, replacement, and refinement of current practices.
... Tail biting is known to be a multifactorial syndrome which is related to internal risk factors influenced by a great variety of external factors (Schrøder-Petersen and Simonsen, 2001). Although a lot of risk factors, especially environmental, have been identified the exact cause remains unknown (Sutherland and Tucker, 2011). As a consequence, tail biting outbreaks are difficult to be predicted and even more challenging to understand their cause as several environmental and husbandry factors associated with this behavior are likely to be unknown at their exact magnitude. ...
... As a consequence, tail biting outbreaks are difficult to be predicted and even more challenging to understand their cause as several environmental and husbandry factors associated with this behavior are likely to be unknown at their exact magnitude. Even under one roof where the same managerial practices are implemented, tail biting is sporadic (Edwards, 2006;Sutherland and Tucker, 2011). Furthermore, due to its multifactorial origin, this behavior is rare not to be present in commercial farms (Thodberg et al., 2018) leading farmers to routinely tail dock under fear of economic losses and fear of losing control of the situation (D'Eath et al., 2016). ...
... High stocking density is associated with the risk of tail biting as it interrupts normal social interactions (Moinard et al., 2003). Surprisingly, stocking density and group size as risk factors are not well documented in experimental studies (D'Eath et al., 2014) and available studies are not conclusive for the effect of group size in negative social behavior (Averós et al., 2010;Sutherland and Tucker, 2011). Tail lesions have been associated with high stocking density (Grümpel et al., 2018) and pens with more than 30 pigs (Pandolfi et al., 2018). ...
Tail-biting is an abnormal behavior of multifactorial origin, that consists a major problem in modern pig industry. It has a serious impact on both welfare and health status of the pigs involved, as well as on economic profitability of the farm. It is considered to be a problem of pig adaptation in poor environment triggered by a plethora of external and internal risk factors interacting with each other. A great variation exists on prevalence of tail biting between different studies across the world. Tail docking is the common practice applied by farmers to prevent this behavior, while treatments are based on enrichment material provision. The aim of this review is to explore the most recent literature on risk factors and impacts of tail biting and to discuss promising areas on early prediction and treatment of the topic.
... It thus gives an indication of distress, rather than pain directly. Increases in plasma cortisol concentrations following disbudding and other painful husbandry procedures such as castration and tail docking, and its alleviation by analgesic administration has commonly been used to assess pain in calves, lambs, and goat kids [5][6][7]. The degree of plasma cortisol response was also used to compare the pain intensity between different methods of goat kid disbudding [8]. ...
... To measure plasma cortisol, blood samples are commonly collected from the jugular veins and cortisol concentrations are measured using different assay techniques, including the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and radioimmunoassay [5]. Although many studies have used plasma cortisol for the assessment of pain induced distress, there are some caveats to this method. ...
Farm animals are routinely subjected to painful husbandry procedures for various purposes. Goat kids are disbudded to improve goat welfare and to ensure safety of other livestock, farm personnel, attending veterinarians and for various other production and managemental procedures. Disbudding is commonly performed on dairy goat farms, in kids under 3 weeks of age. Many scientific studies reported physiological and behavioural changes indicating pain and distress following disbudding, and this can be a significant cause of welfare compromise in goat kids. Recognition and measurement of pain is important to treat and/or manage pain and distress following painful procedures. This review focuses on pain assessment in goat kids following disbudding, using both physiological and behavioural measures. As only a limited information is available on the topic of interest, relevant studies in other young farm animals have also been discussed to compare the status quo in goat kids.
... Routine on-farm husbandry procedures such as tail docking and castration are performed to, respectively, improve lamb health, and for easy management of the flock by stock people (Sutherland 2011). In New Zealand, both procedures are generally carried out at the same time in young lambs of a few weeks of age (Sutherland 2011). ...
... Routine on-farm husbandry procedures such as tail docking and castration are performed to, respectively, improve lamb health, and for easy management of the flock by stock people (Sutherland 2011). In New Zealand, both procedures are generally carried out at the same time in young lambs of a few weeks of age (Sutherland 2011). Several different methods are available to castrate and tail-dock lambs. ...
Aims:
To evaluate and compare the pharmacokinetics of IM and oral firocoxib, and IM meloxicam, and detect their effect on renal function and average daily gain (ADG) in lambs undergoing tail docking and castration.
Methods:
Seventy-five male Romney lambs, aged 3-6 weeks, were randomised into five treatment groups (n = 15 per group): IM firocoxib (1 mg/kg); oral firocoxib (1 mg/kg); IM meloxicam (1 mg/kg); normal saline (approximately 2 mL, oral); or sham. Following the treatment administration, hot-iron tail docking and rubber ring castration were performed in all groups except the sham group, which did not undergo the procedures, but the animals were handled in the same manner as castrated and tail docked lambs. Blood samples were collected before and 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 24, 48, 72, 96 and 120 hours after treatment administration, and plasma drug concentration was quantified by liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry. Plasma urea and creatinine concentrations were determined at a commercial laboratory. Lamb body weights were recorded before and 2, 4 and 8 weeks after tail docking and castration. The pharmacokinetic analysis was carried out using a non-compartmental approach. Between-group and between-time point differences were compared using mixed model analyses.
Results:
There was no evidence for a difference in plasma elimination half-life between firocoxib given IM (LSM 18.6 (SE 1.4) hours), firocoxib given orally (LSM 18.2 (SE 1.4) hours), and meloxicam given IM (LSM 17. 0 (SE 1.4) hours). Firocoxib (IM) had a significantly greater volume of distribution (LSM 3.7 (SE 0.2) L/kg) than IM meloxicam (LSM 0.2 (SE 0.2) L/kg). Lambs in the meloxicam group had higher (p < 0.05) plasma urea and creatinine concentrations than those in the firocoxib, saline and sham groups. Lambs' ADG was decreased (p < 0.01) compared to the other treatment groups in the 0-2 week period following meloxicam administration.
Conclusions and clinical relevance:
Both formulations of firocoxib had a long plasma elimination half-life and large volume of distribution. There was a transient reduction in ADG in the meloxicam group, possibly due to mild renal toxicity. Comparative studies on dose-response effects of firocoxib and meloxicam in lambs following the procedures are required.
... In this case, ligation led to ischaemic necrosis by cutting off the blood flow of the tissue and prevented the recurrence of the CPG. In farm animals, rubber rings can be used for castration and tail docking (Dinniss et al., 1997;Sutherland & Tucker, 2011). Both procedures are considered painful, and injection of local anaesthetic is recommended (Dinniss et al., 1997;Sutherland & Tucker, 2011). ...
... In farm animals, rubber rings can be used for castration and tail docking (Dinniss et al., 1997;Sutherland & Tucker, 2011). Both procedures are considered painful, and injection of local anaesthetic is recommended (Dinniss et al., 1997;Sutherland & Tucker, 2011). In our case, local anaesthesia could have been considered, but the tissue was considered insensitive based on clinical observations. ...
A 22‐year‐old pony mare was presented at the Equine Hospital of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine with a pedunculated exuberant granulation tissue (EGT) located at the lateral bulbar conjunctiva of the right eye. The granulation tissue, diagnosed by histology, grew over three and a half weeks after a superior and inferior Gundersen inlay flap procedure. The pony's underlying ocular pathology was diffuse corneal oedema, suspected to be related to immune‐mediated keratitis affecting the endothelium. Despite several surgical resections, topical corticosteroid treatment, intralesional injection of methylprednisolone acetate and electrosurgical cauterisation, the combination of a ligature at the peduncle base of the mass, intralesional injection of methylprednisolone acetate and removal of the facemask seemed to be the most efficient treatment. The mass did not recur after 33 months of follow‐up. Similar healing tissue has been reported, secondary to surgical ophthalmic procedures in human medicine, in which it is called a conjunctival pyogenic granuloma (CPG).
... Castration is mainly done to improve sensorial quality of meat (Squires et al., 2020). Other procedures are generally done to improve welfare in the long-term, either by minimizing risks of injury to other animals (e.g., tail biting in pigs, bruising in cattle) or to improve animal health or cleanliness (e.g., reduce fly strike in sheep; Sutherland and Tucker, 2011). As a result of these procedures, animals may suffer acute pain that lasts several hours and is followed by chronic pain, which can last several days (Stafford and Mellor, 2015). ...
... For example, it has been suggested that tail docking reduces the risk of fly strike in sheep by preventing build-up of fecal material (called "dags") on the tail, breech, and hindquarters. However, while some studies show that daggy sheep are more likely to be struck, the relationship between tail docking and dags is unclear, and conflicting results have been obtained when comparing the incidence of fly strike in docked and undocked sheep (Sutherland and Tucker, 2011). Overall, the justification for tail docking in sheep varies on a flock by flock basis depending on the geographical region, the breed of the animal, and other management practices. ...
The science of animal welfare has made significant advances in understanding the feelings of animals in production and proposing a variety of novel practices to create a fair balance between animal needs, production costs, and consumers' requirements. Nowadays, consumers base their buying decisions on their personal perceptions of value, resulting from a balance between price and quality and differences in social, cultural, and educational status. The lack of knowledge about livestock production practices and their impact on animal welfare and meat quality also explains the poor consciousness in large part of meat consumers worldwide. The numerous initiatives of the food supply chain in response to the consumer requirements for improved animal welfare are having the most visible influence on their purchase behavior. However, they are also creating them some confusion due to lack of transparency and completeness of information through specific product labeling at the retail level.
... The use of tail tape for marking cows (e.g. to indicate cows for breeding, dry-off or grouping), practiced on 62% of study farms, is another possible explanation for tail lacerations. Similar to what occurs during tail docking, where the application of a rubber ring prevents blood circulation to the distal portion of the tail (Sutherland and Tucker, 2011), the marking tape, if secured too tightly or left in place too long, could cause tissue damage that may result in the circumferential lacerations seen on some cows (DairyNZ, 2020). In this case, prevalence may be reduced by paying careful attention when applying tape to the tail so that circulation is not affected, or by using alternative methods of identification. ...
... Research does not support claims that tail docking improves cow hygiene or prevents the spread of disease such as mastitis (Tucker et al., 2001). Additionally, removal of a cow's tail impedes her ability to deter flies from her hind end (Sutherland and Tucker, 2011). The practice of tail docking is only acceptable for individual cows when medically necessary and performed by a veterinarian with the use of anaesthesia. ...
... In the present study, since all operations are performed with animal welfare in mind, no problems were encountered in the pre-and post-operative period. Although many studies have shown that tail amputations cause acute pain in lambs, these methods are a common procedure and are usually performed by the breeder without pain management [22,23]. The post operative pain values of the anesthetic and analgesic agents used in our study were determined using the facial pain scale developed by Mclein et al. [24] was used in our study and no additional NSAID agent was needed since the values were within normal limits in all cases. ...
Fat–tailed sheep are a common breed in many parts of the world, and coccygeal fractures occur in these animals due to various traumas. As a result of these fractures, fracture hematoma occurs in the region and subsequently gangrene occurs due to circulatory impairment in the region. If the gangrened area is not treated, an open wound will form, and infection will be inevitable due to its relationship with the external environment. From this infected area, it causes sepsis and more serious complications that deteriorate the general condition of the creature, causing general condition disorders. However, it can be treated by surgical partial extirpation of the area where the coccygeal fracture occurs. In this study, the long–term recovery period of a total of 30 adult fat–tailed sheep and rams with coccygeal fractures treated with operative inverted V incision is followed. While all cases are observed to have recovered, it is observed that their productivity characteristics continued normal along with their walking and adaptation to herd management. It is concluded that the partial extirpation method, which is both cheap and effective, can be used in fat–tailed sheep with coccygeal fractures and can be applied in clinical practice. It is observed that the inverted V incision partial extirpation operative technique is both an effective treatment option and prevented economic losses in fat–tailed sheep.
... Castration reduces aggressive behavior in post-pubertal male pigs and undesirable pregnancy in co-housed females [7][8][9][10]. Tail docking is performed to reduce tail chewing, which leads to infections, abscesses, morbidity, and mortality, as well as the condemnation of animals and meat [11][12][13][14][15]. ...
Simple Summary
In most high-income countries, piglets undergo certain elective surgical procedures such as castration and tail docking to eliminate behaviors that are associated with mortality and the condemnation of animals and meat. It has been well established that both castration and tail docking are both painful, yet there are limited products for addressing short-term and long-term pain. Lidocam™ Topical Gel (LTG) (4% lidocaine and 0.3% meloxicam) was developed to address the animal welfare and production requirements of the swine industry. The studies described in this paper show that applications of LTG to the scrotal area and tail base act to control the pain associated with these surgical procedure. The studies also demonstrate that LTG was able to control pain and inflammation at the surgical sites for at least 24 h after application. This was demonstrated by using established physiological and behavioral markers for surgical pain: plasma cortisol and substance P, vocalization during procedure, electrocutaneous stimulation of surgical site, and body weight gain. LTG is potentially an effective product for controlling pain and inflammation for use in castration and tail docking in piglets.
Abstract
(1) Background: It has been well established that castration and tail docking are both painful during and following the procedure, yet there are limited convenient and effective products to address both short-term and long-term pain. Lidocam Topical Gel (LTG) (4% lidocaine and 0.3% meloxicam) was developed to address industry needs for an effective and safe product to address animal welfare concerns regarding castration and tail docking in piglets. (2) Methods: Study 1: Male piglets aged 4–8 days of age were treated with LTG (n = 30) or a control gel (n = 30). Approximately 30 min after application of the gel, the piglets were surgically castrated and tail docked. The efficacy of pain control during the surgical procedures and post-procedure (24 h) pain and inflammation control were evaluated using both behavioral and physiological measurements. Study 2: Meloxicam residue depletion following LTG treatment was followed for 28 days. Study 3: Clinical and pathological safety were evaluated in five groups of eight piglets receiving LTG with: (1) no treatment, (2) nominal topical dose, (3) two times the nominal topical dose, (4) three times the nominal topical dose, and 5) one times the nominal topical dose and 2 mL of LTG by oral gavage daily for 3 days. (3) Results: LTG-treated piglets had a significant reduction in electrocutaneous stimulation response before the procedures and 4 and 24 h post-procedures. Stress vocalization intensity and duration were less in piglets receiving LTG during the surgical procedures. Plasma cortisol and substance P were significantly lower in LTG-treated piglets 3 h after castration and tail docking. The weight and average daily gain were significantly increased in piglets receiving LTG. LTG did not interfere with wound healing or cause irritation at the application sites. There were no abnormal clinical or pathological findings associated with the use of LTG at three times the nominal dose given daily for three days. As meloxicam persisted in the application site tissue, a slaughter withdrawal time of 24 days was determined. (4) Conclusions: When applied to the skin 30 min before castration and tail docking, LTG is effective in surgical pain control and provides post-surgical pain control for up to 24 h. LTG is safe for use in piglets and provides an acceptable withdrawal time for commercial use. LTG is a potentially effective product for commercial use for piglet castration and tail docking.
... For example, certain husbandry practices, such as tail docking, tooth filing, or certain slaughter methods, may cause unnecessary pain and suffering to animals. It is essential to strike a balance between preserving cultural traditions and promoting animal welfare by raising awareness and engaging with communities to encourage alternative practices that align with welfare standards (Larrondo et al., 2018;Sutherland, 2015;Sutherland et al., 2011). ...
This study explores the importance of integrating animal welfare into Somalia’s sustainable development strategies. The interconnectedness of animal welfare, livelihoods, and environmental sustainability is highlighted, emphasizing the need for comprehensive approaches. Stakeholder engagement, partnerships, and capacity-building initiatives are crucial for effective collaboration and resource optimization. Addressing research gaps, including socio-economic impact assessments, intervention effectiveness evaluations, cultural and contextual considerations, analysis of different production systems, and exploration of the intersection of animal welfare and zoonotic disease prevention, is necessary for evidence-based decision-making. By leveraging research, promoting evidence-based interventions, and strengthening policy and governance frameworks, Somalia can enhance animal welfare, support sustainable livelihoods, and contribute to overall sustainable development in the country. The integration of animal welfare into Somalia’s sustainable development agenda will not only benefit animal well-being but also foster resilient livestock systems, preserve cultural practices, and also contributing to global efforts to create a more equitable and compassionate world.
... There is conflicting evidence linking undocked sheep with an increased risk of breech flystrike [36,38,39]. Scobie et al. [40] found that dag formation was dependent on seasonal and management factors, and the length of the tail did not alter the risk of flystrike. ...
The development and substance of animal welfare policy is subject to a range of social, cultural, economic, and scientific influences that commonly vary within and between countries. Discrepancies in policy can create confusion and mistrust among stakeholders and consumers and limit the ability to create a uniform minimum level of requirements to safeguard animal welfare, as well as create a level ‘playing field’ for farmers when trading with other jurisdictions. The livestock sector is receiving growing scrutiny globally for real and perceived violations of animal welfare, for example, the practice of mulesing in Australia. This article explores animal welfare legislation within Australia and how it reflects the scientific evidence surrounding routine husbandry practices in sheep, including tail docking, castration, and mulesing. While there is some variation between state and territory legislation, the most notable concern is the lack of enforceable recommendations surrounding the evidence-based use of analgesia and anaesthesia for painful husbandry procedures. The age at which these procedures are recommended to be performed is relatively consistent across Australian jurisdictions, but there is a marked difference compared to international legislation. The global context of animal welfare legislation, public perception, and producer perception of these procedures are also discussed, highlighting the difficulty of creating robust animal welfare legislation that promotes a good standard of welfare that is respected worldwide whilst being practical in an Australian setting given our unique geography and climatic conditions.
... Zusätzlich wurde der Cortisolanstieg als Stressparameter nach dem Anbringen des Gummiringes und nach dem chirurgischen Kupieren verglichen. Jede Methode führte zu einem Anstieg des Cortisolkonzentration im Vergleich zur Kontrollgruppe [55]. ...
Zusammenfassung
Gegenstand und Ziel Um eine gezielte Zucht auf Kurzschwänzigkeit zu etablieren, müssen initial geeignete Verfahren gefunden werden, welche eine Phänotypisierung des Schafschwanzes über die Schwanzlänge hinaus ermöglichen. In dieser Studie wurden neben der Messung von Körpermaßen erstmals weiterführende Untersuchungen wie die Ultrasonografie und die Radiologie an der kaudalen Wirbelsäule von Schafen durchgeführt. Ziel dieser Arbeit war es, die physiologische Variation der Schwanzlängen und -wirbel innerhalb einer Merinolandschafpopulation zu analysieren. Außerdem sollte der Einsatz der sonografischen Grauwertanalyse und Perfusionsmessung am Schafschwanz validiert werden.
Material und Methode Bei 256 Merinolandschaflämmern wurden am ersten oder zweiten Lebenstag die Schwanzlänge und der Schwanzumfang in Zentimetern gemessen. Im Alter von 14 Wochen wurde die kaudale Wirbelsäule dieser Tiere röntgenologisch untersucht. Bei einem Teil der Tiere wurde außerdem eine sonografische Graustufenanalyse und die Messung der Perfusionsgeschwindigkeit der Arteria caudalis mediana durchgeführt.
Ergebnisse Die getestete Messmethode zeigte einen Standardfehler von 0,08 cm und einen Variationskoeffizienten von 0,23% für die Schwanzlänge bzw. 0,78% für den Schwanzumfang. Die Tiere wiesen eine mittlere Schwanzlänge von 22,5±2,32 cm und einen mittleren Schwanzumfang von 6,53±0,49 cm auf. Die mittlere Schwanzwirbelanzahl dieser Population betrug 20,4±1,6. Der Einsatz einer mobilen Röntgenanlage eignet sich sehr gut dazu, die kaudale Wirbelsäule bei Schafen darzustellen. Es konnte gezeigt werden, dass die Arteria caudalis mediana sich für die Messung der Perfusionsgeschwindigkeit (cm/s) darstellen lässt und auch die sonografische Graustufenanalyse eine gute Durchführbarkeit aufwies. Der mittlere Grauwert beträgt 19,74±4,5 und der Modalwert für die meist aufgefundenen Grauwertpixel 191,53±120,2. Die mittlere Perfusionsgeschwindigkeit für die Arteria caudalis mediana beträgt 5,83±3,04 cm/s.
Schlussfolgerung Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die getesteten Methoden gut für die Charakterisierung des Schafschwanzes geeignet sind. Zum ersten Mal konnten Grauwerte für das Schwanzgewebe und die Perfusionsgeschwindigkeit der Arteria caudalis mediana ermittelt werden.
... Docking the tails of sheep is a very common animal husbandry practice, particularly in countries that manage sheep in extensive systems such as Australia [1][2][3][4]. European archaeological and historical research indicates that the practice began in the late Middle Ages, likely in the belief it might maintain a clean breech, aid mating and parturition, and it was perceived to create the appearance of an aesthetically rounded rump [5]. ...
Docking sheep tails is a long-standing practice that, when done at the recommended length, reduces the risk of flystrike. The recommended length is to cover the vulva of ewes and to a similar length in males. This length is often equated to three coccygeal joints left intact, and there are many other ways the recommended length is described by researchers, industry, and government. This study compared the observer consistency and retest consistency using three different tail length measurement methods: vulva cover assessment, length (mm), and joint palpation. The tails of 51 yearling and 48 weaner Merino ewes were assessed by two observers. Length and vulva cover assessment methods provided the most reliable results, and joint palpation was the least reliable method of tail measurement. In the sample, tails that covered the vulva of yearlings and weaners measured 57.6 mm (n = 14) and 63.7 mm (n = 30) on average, respectively, and contained two coccygeal joints (more than two coccygeal vertebrae). Tails that did not cover the vulva of yearlings and weaners measured 41.3 mm (n = 36) and 52.8 mm (n = 17) on average, respectively, and had less than two coccygeal joints. The two most reliable methods enable valid comparison to the best practice recommendations.
... Morphologically, Merinoland sheep are characterized by large body trait measurements and long tails. However, the long and woolly tail increases the risk of faecal contamination and induces susceptibility to flystrike (French et al., 1994;Lagler et al., 2022;Sutherland & Tucker, 2011). The official German statutes for animal protection (TierSchG, 2006) allow tail docking after birth only in specific cases, but it is a widespread management practice to minimize tail infections. ...
Tail docking is routinely conducted in long-tailed sheep breeds to prevent flystrike infections, but it is not in agreement with legal guidelines and animal welfare issues. Selection on short tails is a sustainable alternative in this regard, but side effects on other breeding goal traits are unclear. In consequence, the present study aimed to estimate genetic parameters for tail length (TL) at birth, birth weight (BW), weaning weight (WW) and postweaning weight (PWW) at the slaughtering date considering single-trait (STM), multiple-trait (MTM) and structural equation models (SEM) with different random effects, and accordingly, different covariance structures. The SEM considered time-lagged recursive relationships among response variables in three different pathways. The first path pertained to the effect of TL on WW and of WW on PWW. The second path reflected the effect of BW on WW and of WW on PWW. The third path was the recursive effect of TL on PWW. The phenotypic data consisted of 2803 records for TL, 13,042 records for BW, 1556 records for WW and 3986 records for PWW from Merinoland lambs. Lambs were born in the period from 1995 to 2021 and kept at the university Gießen research station, Germany, with their naturally long tails. Genetic statistical model evaluation based on Bayesian and Akaike's information criteria suggested models simultaneously considering direct genetic, maternal genetic and maternal permanent environmental effects and respective covariances. For statistical models including the same random effects and covariance structures, SEM were superior over MTM. The direct heritability for TL from the best-fitting STM was 0.60 ± 0.08, indicating the potential for genetic reduction of tail length within a few generations. For growth traits, the direct heritabilities ranged from 0.16 ± 0.03 for BW to 0.31 ± 0.09 for PWW. The maternal heritabilities were 0.03 ± 0.03 for TL, 0.12 ± 0.02 for BW, 0.04 ± 0.03 for WW and 0.07 ± 0.03 for PWW, reflecting small, but the non-significant influence of uterine characteristics on the tail development. The direct genetic correlations between TL and all weight traits were positive and very similar to MTM and SEM but reflected antagonistic genetic relationships from a breeding perspective. Oppositely, the structural equation coefficients reflecting trait associations phenotypically were negative (favourable) for the time-lagged effects of TL on WW and on PWW. As an explanation, lambs with long and woolly tails have an increased risk for contamination with dirt and dust causing infections, which in turn impairs the body weight development. In conclusion, breeding on short tails should consider trait-associated environmental risk factors, for example, disease susceptibility, which can be mimicked via SEM approaches.
... Tail docking is a universal practice in sheep as well as in pigs or cows for milk, still used today, but not free of discussions about its convenience (Sutherland and Tucker, 2011). ...
One of the most important systems of sheep transhumance since the Middle Ages in Spain occurred between the mountains of northern Leon and the Extremadura Meadow lands – a 500-kilometre journey on foot. We analyse here an interesting collection of thirty letters, written at the turn of the nineteenth to the twentieth century, and sent by the shepherds responsible for the flock from the wintering land to the owner of the animals. The only connection with the owner for seven long months but also with their villages and families, were these letters.
... other farm species (Sutherland and Tucker, 2011;Gascoigne et al., 2021). The current study showed that farmers, who not only widely apply this practice, as shown previously by Marcone et al. (2022), consider it only mildly affects sheep welfare, as was also reported by Stamm et al. (2019) among farmers. ...
Despite its importance little is known about the attitudes of different stakeholder categories towards issues that impact the welfare of sheep. This study determined the relevance attributed by various stakeholders to different sheep welfare indicators and assessed which demographic characteristics can influence their scores. Data were collected through a questionnaire presented on paper face-to-face to 15 sheep farmers in Italy during farm visits in June and July 2020 and the same questionnaire was transferred online to a Google Form and an announcement was sent by email and on social platforms to consumers, with a total of 311 respondents completed the questionnaire. The survey was composed of two parts. In the first part respondents were asked to declare their demographic characteristics. In the second part they rated the relevance attributed to eleven indicators of sheep welfare (eight animal-based: leanness, fleece condition, fleece cleanliness, skin lesions, tail docking, lameness, hoof overgrowth, occurrence of mastitis; and three resource-based: insufficient clean drinking water availability, thermal discomfort, access to pasture) using a ten-point Likert scale. An ordinal logistic regression descending function with stepwise selection was used to analyze the effects within demographic data and the distribution of the Likert scale for each indicator. The number of respondents (n = 311) was quite small, nevertheless, the differences that are reported give some guidance on the relative importance accorded to each of these groups of stakeholders to each of the welfare indicators. Female respondents gave higher relevance to most of the indicators compared with male respondents (P<0.05), whereas respondents with a lower education level gave more relevance to four out of the eleven welfare indicators compared with stakeholders with a higher education level (P<0.05). As for respondent categories, non-farmer experts attributed more relevance to lameness, whereas farmers gave a lower relevance to tail docking, while expressing a higher level of concern for leanness compared with the other categories (P<0.05). Finally, more frequent consumers of sheep products considered leanness to be most important (P<0.05). No significant difference was found based on the nationality or the work declared. This study provides information about how different stakeholder categories perceive different aspects of sheep welfare and whether this perception is affected by demographic characteristics, thus promoting informed dialogue between society and the scientific community about the relevance to be attributed to different sheep welfare indicators.
... All Merinos are characterized by long tails and the common occurrence of fine wool and a long tail led to the frequent opinion that these phenotypes are also genetically coupled or the result of the same artificial selection 4 . This assumption could not be proven directly, however, in today's sheep husbandry systems the long woolly tail comes with several problems, e.g., the accumulation of dags in the tail area, which predisposes for flystrike 5 . Therefore, most lambs of long-tailed breeds worldwide are docked shortly after birth 4 . ...
Docking the tails of lambs in long-tailed sheep breeds is a common practice worldwide. But this practice is associated with pain. Breeding for a shorter tail could offer an alternative. Therefore, this study aimed to analyze the natural tail length variation in the Merinolandschaf and to identify causal alleles for the short tail phenotype segregating within long-tailed breeds. We used SNP-based association analysis and haplotype-based mapping in 362 genotyped (Illumina OvineSNP50) and phenotyped Merinolandschaf lambs. Genome-wide significant regions were capture sequenced in 48 lambs and comparatively analyzed in various long and short-tailed sheep breeds and wild sheep subspecies. Here we show a SNP located in the first exon of HOXB13 and a SINE element located in the promotor of HOXB13 as promising candidates. These results enable more precise breeding towards shorter tails, improve animal welfare by amplification of ancestral alleles and contribute to a better understanding of differential embryonic development.
... Tail docking is commonly performed within the first week of life using a variety of techniques (e.g., scalpel, knife, cautery iron or side-cutting pliers) to remove the distal portion of the tail, often without provision of an analgesic or anesthetic for pain management (Sutherland and Tucker, 2011). Tail docking is a painful procedure causing tissue damage as a portion of the tail is surgically removed (Herskin and Di Giminiani, 2018). ...
In the U.S. millions of commercially raised piglets are routinely tail docked. Human and veterinary medical patients experienced reduced inflammation, healing time and post-procedural pain using a CO2 surgical laser compared to standard surgical instruments. Refinement of the tail docking procedure using a laser may improve piglet welfare by reducing tail docking-associated pain compared to cutting pliers. The objectives of this pilot study were to evaluate the ability of a CO2 surgical laser to 1) reduce pain and 2) improve wound healing of piglets after tail docking. Thirty piglets (male and female; 2 days old) were randomly allocated to one of three treatments (n = 10 piglets/treatment): tail docking with side pliers (SP), tail docking with a CO2 surgical laser (LA) or sham-tail docking (control; CON). Piglet vocalizations were recorded during the tail docking procedure and the maximum frequency, amplitude and energy were quantified. Piglet behavior was recorded for 30 min at baseline and at 0, 1, 2, 6, 7, 8, and 24 h post-procedure. Facial images were collected at the same time points to assess facial grimacing using the Piglet Grimace Scale (PGS). Digital images of the tail tip were taken at baseline and up to 168 h post-procedure for wound healing assessment. Infrared thermography (IRT) images of the tail tip and its surrounding tissues were taken at baseline, 0, 0.5, 8, and 24 h post-procedure to assess inflammation. Blood samples were collected from each piglet at baseline and 0.5 h and saliva samples at baseline, 0.5 and 8 h post-procedure for cortisol analysis. The LA and CON groups elicited calls of higher energy than the SP group (P<0.0001). Across the assessment period, the SP group had higher grimace scores than the LA group (P=0.03). Additionally, male piglets grimaced more than female piglets (P=0.009). A treatment effect was observed for both wound scores and IRT (P<0.0001). At 0 h the SP group had significantly higher wound scores than the LA and CON group (P<0.0001). At 0 h, the SP group had a greater temperature difference between the tail tip and surrounding tissue compared to the LA group (P=0.02). Behavioral indicators of pain were not different between the SP and LA piglets. In conclusion, LA piglets had less tail damage immediately post-procedure and lower facial grimace scores throughout the assessment period, suggesting it may have the utility as a less painful alternative to traditional tail docking with cutting pliers in piglets.
... Zusätzlich wurde der Cortisolanstieg als Stressparameter nach dem Anbringen des Gummiringes und nach dem chirurgischen Kupieren verglichen. Jede Methode führte zu einem Anstieg des Cortisolkonzentration im Vergleich zur Kontrollgruppe [55]. ...
Zusammenfassung
Eine Möglichkeit, das Kopieren von Schwänzen bei Schafen in der Zukunft zu vermeiden, stellt die Zucht auf Kurzschwänzigkeit dar. Dies erscheint vielversprechend, da die Urform der Hausschafe, der Mufflon, einen relativ kurzen schmalen Schwanz besitzt. Es kann folglich davon ausgegangen werden, dass längere Schwänze ein Resultat der Domestikation sind. Ältere Untersuchungen zur Heritabilität der Schwanzlänge beim Hausschaf konnten rasseabhängig Werte von 0,38 bis 0,77 nachweisen. Bei der Zucht auf Kurzschwänzigkeit muss jedoch darauf geachtet werden, dass keine Missbildungen der Wirbelsäule und benachbarter Strukturen auftreten. Bis in diesem Bereich ein Zuchtfortschritt erreicht ist, können durch Managementmaßnahmen die negativen Auswirkungen länger bewollter Schwänze (z. B. Myiasisbefall, Dermatitis) gemindert werden. Dazu gehören die Vermeidung von Durchfällen durch eine ausgewogene wiederkäuergerechte Fütterung, ein betriebsspezifisch angepasstes nachhaltiges Parasitenmanagementprogramm und die gezielte Schur unkupierter Schwänze.
... This practice has been banned in the European Union, yet several member states continue to practice tail-docking due to the continued presence and economic impact of TB (3). The procedure of tail docking is painful (16,17) and does not necessarily eliminate TB at a later stage of production (18,19), although tail docking has been demonstrated to be effective at decreasing TB behavior (15,20,21). Despite ongoing management efforts, EB and TB episodes are still common and further research exploring alternative avenues of reducing abnormal behavior are needed, with nutritional interventions being of increasing interest (7). ...
Body lesions, resulting from tail-biting and ear-biting, can result in decreased health and welfare in pigs. Tryptophan, an indispensable amino acid, is needed to support protein deposition, and the synthesis of the neurotransmitter serotonin, which is important to mood, sleep-wake and eating patterns and might play a role in aggression and abnormal behavior. Two randomized block design studies were conducted to assess the influence of varying dietary tryptophan levels on aggression and abnormal behavior in 8-week-old pigs. Six diets were formulated which met or exceeded all nutrient requirements yet differed according to the dietary tryptophan content. The first study included control (100% standardized ileal digestible tryptophan), supplemented (175% standardized ileal digestible tryptophan), and supplement-plus (250% standardized ileal digestible tryptophan) experimental diets, while the second study included deficient (80% standardized ileal digestible tryptophan), adequate control (105% standardized ileal digestible tryptophan), and extra-tryptophan (130% standardized ileal digestible tryptophan) experimental diets. Concentrations of plasma tryptophan and large neutral amino acids (tyrosine, isoleucine, leucine, valine, and phenylalanine) were analyzed using ultra-performance liquid chromatography and the tryptophan to large neutral amino acid ratio was calculated. Analysis for time active, lying, and engaging in aggressive interactions was carried out using 10-min scan samples to determine behavioral time budgets of the pigs on different experimental diets. Pigs fed diets with supplemented tryptophan had higher concentrations of both plasma tryptophan and tryptophan to large neutral amino acid ratio compared to the pigs fed the control diet (P < 0.05) in the first study, while no significant differences were detected for plasma tryptophan or the tryptophan to large neutral amino acid ratio in the second study. Diet did not have an effect (P > 0.05) on weight, feed intake or behavior throughout the studies. The results suggest that an increase in dietary tryptophan relative to large neutral amino acids, fed for 29 days, impacts circulating plasma tryptophan and therefore, serotonin concentrations in the pig. Despite an increase in circulating plasma tryptophan in response to an increase in dietary tryptophan in the first study, we failed to see an impact of the dietary treatment on body, tail and ear-biting behavior under the conditions studied.
... Our finding that undocked animals are more likely to develop severe lesions is consistent with previous studies that reported a reduction in tail biting behaviour following tail resection and would explain why undocked animals are prone to develop tail lesions [30][31][32][33][34][35]. The reason why tail biting incidence is lower when tail docking is performed is still not fully understood, it can be hypothesized that the tail may become less attractive as it is shorter and without long hairs at the tip [3]. ...
Tail biting has been recognised as an intractable problem in pig production. This study aims to evaluate tail lesion occurrence in slaughtered pigs and explore the relationship between carcass condemnations and tail lesion considering different production systems and tail lengths and to evaluate the importance of creating a detailed tail score classification that includes scarred lesions. Data on a total of 9189 pigs from 73 batches with different tail lengths (undocked; docked mid-length; fully docked) and from distinct production systems (conventional; conventional antibiotic-free and organic) were collected at a Spanish abattoir. Batches with higher tail lesion scores presented a significantly higher chance of total condemnation and total condemnation due to pyaemia, being even more associated with scarring score. The within-batches probability for local condemnations and local condemnation due to abscesses increased significantly with higher scarring scores. Regarding tail length, docked at mid-length and undocked carcasses presented significantly higher odds to be condemned due to abscess. Organic farms showed a higher probability of total condemnations. This research highlights the importance of tail lesions on carcass condemnations that may also be influenced by docking and type of production. Results suggest that scarring score should be included in the tail surveillance program.
... La anestesia local o general parece no reducir el dolor que genera este tipo de prácticas (Sutherland y Tucker, 2011). Por ello, para reducir el dolor causado por el recorte de colas, pueden desarrollarse otras estrategias como el enriquecimiento ambiental o facilitar el amamantamiento. ...
Este libro nace del interés de los autores por ofrecer una herramienta práctica para la toma de decisiones en el manejo de animales, particularmente respecto al ejercicio de determinadas prácticas que son dolorosas. En este trabajo se incluye información científicamente fundamentada para ayudar a determinar la necesidad de llevarlas a cabo o la posibilidad de aplicar otras opciones. El lector encontrará información sintetizada para la correcta elección de las técnicas; conocerá cuándo y cómo llevarlas a cabo y estará en condiciones de comparar las diferentes opciones a través de datos conductuales y fisiológicos. Indudablemente esta obra puede contribuir a fomentar, tanto en técnicos como en productores, una zootecnia moderna, tendiente a la erradicación del dolor innecesario en los animales y a favor de su bienestar.
... The indicators were selected based on ease of observer reliability and feasibility as suggested by Munoz et al. (2018Munoz et al. ( , 2019 and through consultation with veterinarians and animal welfare scientists. At each on-farm visit, the following indicators were recorded: leanness (Kenyon et al., 2014), fleece condition (AWIN, 2015), fleece cleanliness and skin lesions (AWIN, 2015), tail docking (Sutherland andTucker, 2011), lameness (AWIN, 2015), hoof overgrowth (Winter, 2004) and occurrence of mastitis (Blagitz et al., 2014). All of the indicators were recorded as nominal dichotomic variables (Table 1). ...
Accurate and reliable on-farm protocols are essential in sheep welfare evaluation. However, protocols with a high number of measures are demanding in terms of time. The aim of this trial was to use a few already validated, reliable, feasible, rapid and non-invasive animal-based indicators to evaluate and compare welfare on dairy and mixed purpose sheep farms. Indicators included prevalence of leanness, fleece condition, fleece cleanliness, skin lesions, tail docking, lameness, hoof overgrowth and mastitis. Farmers were asked to rank the relevance of the animal welfare indicators. Nine farms with dairy and nine farms with dual-purpose breeds were tested. The relevance given by eighteen farmers was affected by the type of indicators. Farmers scored mastitis as the most relevant welfare indicator, followed by leanness and lameness. The least relevant indicator was docked tail. The prevalence of poor fleece condition was lower in dairy sheep, whereas dual-purpose farms had higher prevalences of tail-docked animals. Farms showing a higher prevalence of skin lesions had animals with lower body condition and higher longevity. Hoof overgrowth was positively correlated with fleece dirtiness. No differences between dairy and dual-purpose farms were found in terms of the final score, which ranged from 33 (best welfare score) to 187 (worst welfare score). The final score was highly variable among farms. Identification of indicators showing higher prevalences allow the farmers to identify the main areas for intervention at farm level.
... Tail biting is a multifactorial issue with a variety of risk factors related to housing and management, such as access to manipulable material, air quality, stocking density, health, feeding and genetics affecting its occurrence (EFSA, 2007;Schrøder-Petersen and Simonsen, 2001;Valros, 2018). Although tail docking reduces the occurrence and severity of tail biting (Sutherland et al., 2009;Sutherland and Tucker, 2011), the negative welfare effects associated with tail docking itself have led to a ban of routine tail docking in the European Union since 1994 (Council of the European Union, 2009). However, in many European countries including the main pig-producing countries (e.g. ...
Tail biting is still an important problem in pig husbandry. In addition to addressing the underlying causes, the negative consequences of tail biting can be mitigated by detecting it early e.g. using behavioural changes and implementing intervention measures. Due to the labour intensity of behavioural observations, it would be highly advantageous to detect behavioural changes automatically. This study aimed at developing and validating an automatic device (“Bite-o-Mat”) to assess the individual manipulative behaviour of group-housed pigs. The Bite-o-Mat consisted of a single point load cell (SPLC) that recorded the force with which pigs manipulated a rope, and an UHF-RFID system to individually identify the manipulating pig. Data were recorded in a rearing (8 pigs) and a fattening pen (5 pigs) and validated using twelve hours of video recordings each, distributed across six days. Pigs were observed 596 (rearing) and 277 (fattening) times to manipulate the rope (=manipulation event) in the videos to which the automatically recorded data were compared. Using a linear mixed model, summarising data per manipulation event, it was possible to show that on average stronger forces are exerted on a rope during manipulation events than during times without manipulations and that these forces can be measured by a SPLC (manipulations vs. no manipulations, model estimates in kg; rearing: -0.01 vs. -0.004 (mean), fattening: -0.05 vs. -0.01 (mean)). Based on these results, an algorithm was developed to automatically detect manipulation events using the data of the SPLC. Validation of the algorithm using a second-by-second comparison to the video analysis, showed that it is suitable to detect manipulation events automatically in the rearing and fattening period (sensitivity: 0.60 (rearing and fattening); specificity: 0.87 (rearing), 0.93 (fattening); precision: 0.55 (rearing), 0.58 (fattening); accuracy: 0.81 (rearing), 0.88 (fattening)). In addition, we aimed to identify the manipulating pig with an UHF-RFID antenna. The performance parameters (sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, precision) of the UHF-RFID antenna confirmed that it is sufficiently suitable to detect the pigs within the reading range. Compared with the video recordings, 69% (rearing) and 82% (fattening) of pigs were correctly identified automatically to be the manipulating pigs by the UHF-RFID algorithm. These results indicate that the Bite-o-Mat is not only a promising device to automatically detect manipulative behaviour in group-housed pigs, but also to identify the manipulating animal.
... Tail docking causes acute pain as well as increases the risk of developing 2 of 15 neuromas inducing long term pain in the pigs [4,10,11]. Tail docking does not eliminate tail biting as docked pigs often still show signs of tail biting at slaughter [12][13][14][15]. The docking does not attempt either to solve the underlying issue, namely the unsuitable environment that pigs are raised in. ...
This study investigated if straw racks, which enable larger straw rations, induced a more straw-directed behaviour in pigs, as a mean to facilitate the provision of manipulable material and natural behaviour. It was conducted on a commercial farm (459 pigs, 42 pens, 30–120 kg) where half of the pens received 25 L of straw on the floor (CONTROL) and the other half of the pens received straw in a rack holding 44 L of straw (RACK). The pig behaviour in five randomly assigned pens per treatment were recorded for 24 h, during three periods of production. Pig activity levels, exploratory behaviour, pen utilization and available clean straw were scan sampled. During period 1, no pigs were observed interacting with the straw racks. During this period, CONTROL pigs conducted more straw-directed behaviour and less pen-directed behaviour compared to pigs in the pens with a rack during period 1. The lack of rack interactions may imply an underdeveloped spatial cognition in the pigs. Apart from period 1, there were no significant difference in behaviour between RACK and CONTROL pigs. The racks did not disturb the use of the pen. The absent treatment effect in periods 2 and 3 may reflect that there was a too small difference in straw ration between the treatments. In order to design and implement straw racks that promote straw interaction, future studies should focus on understanding pigs’ spatial cognition.
... Piglets in the United States routinely undergo painful procedures, collectively known as processing, which can include castration, tail-docking, teeth clipping, ear notching/tagging, and injections. Castration (i.e., removal of the testicles or destruction of testicular formation) is commonly performed to prevent unwanted breeding, reduce aggression, and reduce boar taint (improving meat quality) [1] and tail docking (i.e., removal of a portion of the tail) is intended to reduce tail biting severity and total events [2]. To improve piglet welfare standards, Europe and Canada have implemented legislation requiring that piglets receive anesthetic or analgesic drugs in conjunction with processing procedures [3,4]. ...
This study assessed the efficacy of meloxicam, flunixin, and ketoprofen in piglets undergoing routine castration and tail-docking. Six-day-old male piglets (8/group) received one of five randomized treatments: intramuscular saline (SAL PROC), meloxicam (MEL; 0.4 mg/kg), flunixin (FLU; 2.2 mg/kg), ketoprofen (KETO; 3.0 mg/kg) or sham (SAL SHAM; saline injection, no processing). Two hours post-dose, piglets were castrated and tail-docked. Plasma cortisol, interstitial fluid (ISF) prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) and activity levels via Actical® monitoring were used to estimate pain. SAL SHAM and FLU exhibited lower cortisol concentrations than SAL PROC at the time of processing (p = 0.003 and p = 0.049, respectively), and all NSAIDs exhibited lower PGE2 than SAL PROC at 3.69 hours (MEL p = 0.050; FLU p = 0.043 and KETO p = 0.031). While not statistically significant, PGE2 was higher in SAL PROC piglets vs. other treatment groups at most time points. There was also a high degree of variability between piglets, especially for SAL PROC. Activity levels were significantly decreased at multiple time points in SAL PROC and MEL piglets following processing. However, FLU and KETO piglets had increased activity levels closer to that of the SAL SHAM group, suggesting that these NSAIDs are more effective than MEL in providing analgesia. These results demonstrate that management strategies including administration of intramuscular flunixin or ketoprofen to reduce pain associated with processing will likely improve piglet health and welfare in the United States.
... Tail biting can be largely prevented by tail docking (amputating a portion of the tail), and in most EU countries, approximately 99% of pigs are docked (Valros and Heinonen, 2015). However, it has been reported that 2 to 5% of docked pigs are still bitten by pen-mates (Sutherland and Tucker, 2011). The prevalence of tail biting varies greatly from study to study (Valros and Heinonen, 2015). ...
Abnormal oral manipulation, such as tail-, ear-, and flank-biting are among the most serious behaviour problems in modern pig husbandry. They not only affect the welfare of animals, but also have economic consequences. The prevalence of tail-, ear-, and flank-bite damage was estimated in a 1200 sow farrow-to-finish commercial farm in Hungary were pigs grouped by age. A total of 16,023 individuals were observed, of which 4,679 were housed in the batteries and 11,344 were housed in the fattening barns. In the batteries, the prevalence of tail-bitten and ear-bitten piglets in the different age groups ranged from 2.6 to 15.18%, 10.77 to 56.87%, respectively. The likelihood of tail injuries increased with the age of the animals, while the likelihood of ear injuries gradually decreased with piglet?s age. No flank injuries were observed in piglets from the batteries. In the fattening barns, the prevalence of tail and ear injuries in the different age groups was between 2.73 and 6.1%, and between 3.38 and 58.16%, respectively. Flank biting appeared only in older animals, from 156 days of age, at a much lower frequency (1.96 to 3.26%) than the other injuries studied. Some elements of the housing and feeding technology applied in this farm could enhance the occurrence of abnormal oral bite behaviour in pigs. Changing from wet to granulate feed and replacing the grid flooring with solid flooring covered with straw litter could lead to a decline in the incidence of biting.
... Although there is scientific evidence that tail-docking reduces the incidence of tail biting in intensive pig farming, there are reasons to believe that this is not a measure capable of solving the problem by itself (D'Eath et al., 2014;Larsen et al., 2018;Li et al., 2017;Sutherland and Tucker, 2011).Even though in this study all of the finishing batches were classified as tail-docked, it was observed a considerable proportion (14.8%) of tail lesions, mild or severe, in finishing pigs, Considering tail biting lesions, it was clear that carcasses without any suggestive lesions were the most common finding, whether analyzing the entire sample or each category, weaners and finishing pigs, individually. In addition, carcasses of pigs that suffered from mild to moderate tail biting (L1, 12.9%) were more frequent than those presenting severe lesions (L2, 2.7%). ...
Tail-docking is not accepted by European Union legislation as a routine measure to prevent tail biting in pigs. As part of systematic monitoring of animal welfare there is an increasing interest in recording tail damage in pigs at slaughter to identify problem farms. Tail biting lesions have been associated to causes of total condemnation in post-mortem meat inspection. The goals of this study were to assess tail-docking and tail biting in slaughter pigs and to evaluate the association of tail lesions with meat inspection findings. The study was carried out at four pig slaughterhouses in the north of Portugal. Data was collected at the batch level during checks on food chain information, and at ante- and postmortem meat inspection. A total of 196 batches were screened. These batches covered 10146 pigs: 4090 weaners (132 batches from 62 farms) and 6056 finishing pigs (64 batches from 43 farms). Of all the 196 batches, 88% were classified as tail-docked, corresponding to 100% of batches of finishing pigs and 83% of weaners. Tail lesions were scored according to a 3-level scale. During post-mortem inspection, 84% pig carcasses (8566 out of 10146) presented absence of tail lesions. Mild to moderate tail lesions (13%) were more frequent than severe ones (3%). Tail lesions, both mild and severe, were more prevalent (P>0.001) in weaners (13.1%, 3.5%) than in finishing pigs (12.7%, 2.1%). A total of 169 (1.7%) carcasses were condemned during post-mortem inspection with the prevalence being higher in weaners (3.3%) than in finishing pigs (0.6%). The most frequent causes were poor body condition (31.4%), arthritis/polyarthritis (28.4%), and peritonitis (20.1%). No association between severity of tail lesions and post-mortem condemnations was observed at the batch level, however a tendency for a higher proportion of post-mortem condemnations in docked batches was found among weaners (P=0.013). Further research with increased sample size and the analysis performed at the animal level is needed in order to confirm the observed tendencies. Recording information on tail lesions at the slaughterhouse is useful to gain information about general herd health, to support risk-based meat inspection and to assist farmers in welfare management plans.
... Crossbreeding (Scobie and O'Connell 2002;Shelton 1977;Wilson 1940) and tail docking (Sutherland & Tucker 2011;Orihuela & Ungerfeld 2019) have also been used in thin-long-tailed sheep breeds to reduce tail length. Crossbreeding includes mating thin-long-tailed breeds with thinshort-tailed breeds (Scobie and O'Connell 2002), fat-rumped breeds (with a few number of caudal vertebrae) (Wilson 1940;Jordan 1952), or wild species (e.g., mouflon) (Shelton 1977). ...
Different sheep breeds have evolved after initial domestication, generating various tail phenotypic patterns. The phenotypic diversity of sheep tail patterns offers ideal materials for comparative analysis of its genetic basis. Evolutionary biologists, animal geneticists, breeders, and producers have been curious to clearly understand the underlying genetics behind phenotypic differences in sheep tails. Understanding the causal gene(s) and mutation(s) underlying these differences will help probe an evolutionary riddle, improve animal production performance, promote animal welfare, and provide lessons that help comprehend human diseases related to fat deposition (i.e., obesity). Historically, fat tails have served as an adaptive response to aridification and climate change. However, the fat tail is currently associated with compromised mating and animal locomotion, fat distribution in the animal body, increased raising costs, reduced consumer preference, and other animal welfare issues such as tail docking. The developing genomic approaches provide unprecedented opportunities to determine causal variants underlying phenotypic differences among populations. In the last decade, researchers have performed several genomic investigations to assess the genomic causality underlying phenotypic variations in sheep tails. Various genes have been suggested with the prominence of several potentially significant causatives, including the BMP2 and PDGFD genes associated with the fat tail phenotype and the TBXT gene linked with the caudal vertebrae number and tail length. Although the potential genes related to sheep tail characteristics have been revealed, the causal variant(s) and mutation(s) of these high‐ranking candidate genes are still elusive and need further investigation. The review discusses the potential genes, sheds light on a knowledge gap, and provides possible investigative approaches that could help determine the specific genomic causatives of sheep tail patterns. Besides, characterizing and revealing the genetic determinism of sheep tails will help solve issues compromising sheep breeding and welfare in the future.
... Intervention studies have revealed inconsistencies as to the success of the various methods commonly employed on commercial farms. The use of environmental enrichment, including rooting material such as straw, typically decreases TB [22,23]; however, the success of a rooting substrate was found to be dependent upon the quantity of material and the general acceptance of the rooting material by the pigs [24,25]. Furthermore, the addition of rooting material relies on the manure management system; unfortunately, the majority of swine farms use liquid manure systems which may be illequipped to handle straw [26], or other types of rooting material. ...
Tail-biting is globally recognized as a welfare concern for commercial swine production. Substantial research has been undertaken to identify risk factors and intervention methods to decrease and understand this vice. Tail-biting appears to be multifactorial and has proven difficult to predict and control. The primary objective of the scoping review was to identify and chart all available literature on the risk factors and interventions associated with tail-biting in pigs. A secondary objective was to identify gaps in the literature and identify the relevance for a systematic review. An online literature search of four databases, encompassing English, peer-reviewed and grey literature published from 1 January 1970 to 31 May 2019, was conducted. Relevance screening and charting of included articles were performed by two independent reviewers. A total of 465 citations were returned from the search strategy. Full-text screening was conducted on 118 articles, with 18 being excluded in the final stage. Interventions, possible risk factors, as well as successful and unsuccessful outcomes were important components of the scoping review. The risk factors and interventions pertaining to tail-biting were inconsistent, demonstrating the difficulty of inducing tail-biting in an experimental environment and the need for standardizing terms related to the behavior.
... This highlights that damaged (other) tails may be increasing in the studied dairy herds in New Zealand, although the numbers recorded were insufficient for an adjusted analysis and the underlying factors for this increase are unclear. Other studies have suggested that the use of breeding markers such as tape could be a determinant of these types of injuries (Sutherland and Tucker 2011;Anonymous 2020c). ...
... Tail docking is commonly performed within the first week of life using a variety of techniques (e.g., scalpel, knife, cautery iron or side-cutting pliers) to remove the distal portion of the tail, often without provision of an analgesic or anesthetic for pain management (Sutherland and Tucker, 2011). Tail docking is a painful procedure causing tissue damage as a portion of the tail is surgically removed (Herskin and Di Giminiani, 2018). ...
In the United States, piglets are routinely tail docked using side plyers to decrease the prevalence of tail biting. This method causes significant post-procedural pain. Refining the surgical procedure by using a CO2 laser may reduce tail docking-associated pain and inflammation, improving on-farm piglet welfare. The objectives of this preliminary study were to evaluate the ability of a CO2 surgical laser to 1) reduce pain and 2) improve wound healing of piglets undergoing tail docking. Thirty piglets (3 days old; Yorkshire x Landrace) were randomly allocated to one of three treatments (n = 10 piglets/treatment group): tail docking with side plyers, tail docking with a CO2 laser, or sham-tail docking (control). Piglet vocalizations were recorded at the time of tail docking and the maximum frequency, amplitude, and energy of vocalizations were quantified. Piglets were video recorded in their pens for 30 min. pre-procedure and at 0-2 and 6-8 h post-procedure for behavior scoring. Digital and infrared thermography (IRT) images were collected at baseline, 0, 8, 24, 48, 72, 96, 120, 144, and 168 h post-procedure, and at baseline 0, 0.5, 8, and 24 h post-procedure, respectively for inflammation and wound healing assessment. Other outcome measures collected in this study included: salivary cortisol, blood cortisol, facial grimacing, and body weight. Data are currently being analyzed. Results for vocalizations and wound assessment (digital and IRT) will be available prior to conference day to determine if using a CO2 laser was able to reduce pain and inflammation and improve wound healing of piglets post-tail docking.
Tail biting in pigs is an abnormal behavior with multi-factorial origin, causing wounds, infections, partial or total losses of the tail, and even death in bitten pigs. Tail lesions, caused by “swine inflammation and necrosis syndrome (SINS),” are independent of tail biting. However, such lesions cause pre-damaged tails, resulting in secondary biting. Tail docking, one procedure to restrict tail biting, was banned by the EU Council Directive 2008/120/EC in December 2008, why it is important to automatically detect early warning signs of an upcoming outbreak by use of electronic devices. However, implementation of early warning systems is associated with high costs, stimulating genetic approaches. From a genetic perspective, the multi-factorial effects on tail biting suggest multi-factorial analyses considering breeding, husbandry, and feeding aspects simultaneously, addressing genotype x environment or more specifically genotype x feeding interactions. An indirect breeding approach is selection of pigs with short tails. Generally, due to the quite large direct heritability for tail length in pigs, the possibility of breeding pigs with shorter tails is a promising approach to reduce tail biting without stress, trauma, and pain, but implies small antagonistic effects on weight traits.
Clinical audits have been used in human healthcare for a long time, however, their use in the livestock sector is low, with very few examples in the literature. By using clinical audits to assess treatment procedures and outcomes, evidence-based veterinary medicine (EBVM) guidance can be drawn up to influence medication selection and usage. One of the key benefits of this is to help reduce antibiotic over-prescription and, influence the category of an antibiotic selected (using the European Medicines Agency categorisation of antibiotics).This case study will use an ovine caesarean section and assisted vaginal delivery (AVD) clinical audit (Charles and Stockton, 2022) as a case example. This case will also reference unpublished data assessing the impact of the 2022 audit recommendations which was discussed at the Sheep Veterinary Society Conference, 2023 (Charles, 2023b).
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In this first chapter, we summarize how the science and our thoughts have progressed since the publication of The Welfare of Cattle, (a predecessor to the present volume) 15 years ago. We discuss some of the advances made on cattle welfare issues over the last decade and also highlight areas where more work is needed. We also emphasize the importance of considering how human factors can have a profound influence on the welfare of cattle. We have highlighted the need to understand the views of different stakeholders, including the public, and call for focused work on understanding the barriers to adoption of practices that improve the welfare of cattle on farms. Lastly, we summarize recent conceptual innovations, including in how animal welfare is defined, and consider some of the challenges inherent to working in a field of science much affected by human values.
The contentious issue of cow calf separation at birth is incongruent with many views on acceptable farming practices, and carries the risk of eroding public trust in the dairy industry if it is not addressed. The available evidence provides little support for the practice, but research on best practices for maintaining cow calf contact in a way that enhances animal welfare, while preserving farm profitability is nascent. In this article, the authors address the research questions that require answers to better inform producers and facilitate their decision making, and prepare the dairy industry to take another evolutionary step forward.
Animal production safety is closely related to the welfare of animals raised for food production and aims to maintain high animal health standards by protecting them. This chapter aims to introduce current European and National legislation on animal welfare in swine farming, starting from the foundation and maintenance of the five freedoms that condition animal welfare, general requirements regarding environmental and microclimatic parameters and the human–animal relationship. In particular, the criteria and schemes for evaluating welfare from stable to transport to animal slaughter will be discussed. Consideration will be given to the various factors affecting animal welfare, in particular: the type of housing and roosting areas, the space available and the density of animals in the barn, transport conditions, stunning and slaughtering methods, castration of males, tail-cutting, feed quality and housing cooling systems. Precision farming techniques will be explained to support farmers in understanding and identifying animal behaviour, e.g., disease diagnosis, assistance in calving areas, improving breeding conditions and reducing sickness factors.
This work compared the behavior and performance of 24 groups of 12 pigs kept in pens with either a DOUBLE [one feed space aligned with the front wall of the pen (WALL), and one immediately adjacent (IN)] or SINGLE (WALL only) spaced feeder, from weaning until slaughter. Pens were equipped with a rack of fresh grass and a rubber toy (weaning phase) or a wooden board (finishing phase). Every 2 weeks, interaction with the enrichment, aggressive, harmful, and play behaviors were recorded for 5 min, four times a day. In addition, the pigs were individually assessed every 2 weeks for ear, tail, and flank injuries using a 4-point scale. The duration of feeder occupancy, feed space occupancy, number of and duration of feeding bouts, and aggressive behavior at the feeder were recorded continuously from video recordings (two times while in the weaner stage and two times while in the finisher stage, one camera/pen; 1 h per occasion). Individual body weight was recorded at weaning, transfer, and slaughter, and feed delivery was recorded daily at the pen level; from these measurements, average daily gain, feed intake, and feed conversion ratio were calculated. Data were analyzed using SAS v9.4. There was no effect of treatment on damaging behaviors. Pigs in DOUBLE had worse tail lesion scores on 6 of the 9 recording days (P < 0.001), but values rarely exceeded 1. Total feeder occupancy tended to be longer in DOUBLE than in SINGLE (P = 0.06). DOUBLE selected the IN feed space more often than WALL regarding the number of feeding bouts (P < 0.001). During feeding, pigs in DOUBLE received fewer aggressive behaviors than SINGLE (P < 0.001) and experienced fewer displacements than SINGLE (P < 0.001). Although both experimental groups had a similar weight at slaughter (P > 0.05), the FCR was lower in DOUBLE than in SINGLE (P < 0.05). These data suggest that doubling space at the feeder to two spaces/12 pigs reduced aggression and displacement behaviors at the feeder, indicating less competition for food. However, increasing feeder space was not a management strategy that could ensure reduced tail biting on commercial pig farms.
Introduction
Tail biting is a widespread problem in pig production systems and has a negative impact on both animal welfare and farm income. This explorative study aims to validate how tail biting is related to general behaviors at the individual level and explore whether these behaviors are related to a particular type of tail biting: two-stage, sudden-forceful, obsessive, or epidemic.
Methods
This research was conducted in a standard commercial setting where 89 tail-docked pre-finishing piglets divided into 8 groups were observed 4 days per week from 5 to 8 weeks of age. Each piglet was observed for a total of 160 min using continuous focal sampling. Ten individual behaviors were recorded based on the general behaviors expected to be linked to giving tail biting (PCA1), receiving tail biting (PCA2), and tail biting damage (PCA3). These PCAs were assembled and related to tail biting given, tail biting received, and tail biting lesions.
Results
Tail biting did not lead to major damage on the piglets' tail at 8 weeks of age but was observed 420 times, where most of the individuals (72%) were categorized as “biters and victims.” When relating PCA1 with tail biting given, piglets that gave more tail biting showed more “active exploration.” When relating PCA2 with tail biting received, piglets receiving more tail biting were more “explored while active” and “attacked and explored.” When relating PCA2 with tail biting lesions, piglets presenting lesions showed more “agonism.” Surprisingly, tail biting lesions were not significantly related to PCA3. The relationship between explorative behaviors and tail biting indicates that the pre-damage stage of two-stage tail biting was the predominant tail biting type, while the damaging stage was likely incipient. The relationship between tail biting and aggression, as well as the minor tail lesions observed suggest that sudden-forceful tail biting was probably present even though it was rarely seen. Obsessive and epidemic tail biting were not observed.
Discussion
This study demonstrates that studying tail biting at the individual level helps to identify the type of tail biting present. This gives directions to farmers for applying appropriate measures to prevent the development of tail biting behavior in piglets.
Understanding the genetic basis of sheep tails is of great importance to improve sheep production and welfare. In this Comment, we discussed recent findings showing that homeobox B13 (HOXB13) is a regulator of the tail length in sheep. The revelation of the HOXB13 gene adds novel insights into the genetic determinism of the sheep tail phenotype. This new genetic highlight will lead to further advances in sheep breeding using selection-based strategies and molecular genetics-based tools. Recent findings implicating homeobox B13 (HOXB13) as a regulator of sheep tail length and their impact on sheep breeding via selection-based strategies and molecular genetics-based tools are discussed.
Aims:
To explore factors associated with the frequency of tail damage in dairy cows on 29 New Zealand farms participating in an animal welfare monitoring programme.
Materials and methods:
Herd-level tail score data were collected at the cow level and then summarised at the herd level as counts for each lactation over the period 1June 2014 to 31 May 2018. A cow's tail was considered damaged if there was evidence of any injury that deformed the anatomical structure involving either bone or soft tissue and could include loss of use. There were four categories for tail scoring. Fracture or dislocation of tail bones, was considered as a deviation (score 1). When the tail had been docked above the top of the cow's udder, this was considered as docked short tail (score 2). When there was evidence of soft tissue trauma (score 3) or bone damage but no fracture (score 4), this was recorded as damaged (other). Tails were scored for each whole dairy herd. Tail scoring was performed by trained veterinarians or veterinary technicians. The primary outcome variable was counts of deviated tails (DT). Other outcome variables were docked short, damaged (other) and total tail injuries (TTI) which was a summation of all tail injuries. The potential predictor variables were, area, season, farm, region, replacement rate and herd size. A mixed effects negative binomial or Poisson regression was fitted to the count data.
Results:
A total of 29 farms contributed data for tail scoring, with 54,831 cows individually scored. The unadjusted regional prevalence of TTI, ranged from 3.5% (64/1,835) in Taranaki in 2014-2015 to 28.7% (1,434/4,988) in Southland/Otago in 2017-2018. The unadjusted regional herd prevalence of DT ranged from 2.1% (280/6,862) in Taranaki (2014-2015) to 13.2% (4,627/30,165) in Southland /South Otago (2017-2018). The incident rate ratio (IRR) of DT in 2015-2016 was 1.74 (95% CI = 1.20-2.53; p = 0.003) times the incident rate for the reference group (2014-2015). The IRR for TTI in 2015-2016 was 1.70 (95% CI = 1.60-1.81; p = 0.001) times the incident rate for the reference group (2014-2015.
Conclusions and clinical relevance:
This is the first quantitative study of the frequency of tail damage within New Zealand dairy farms, and whilst variable between region, indicates that the frequency is increasing. Opportunities exist to better understand the causes of tail injuries and to improve animal welfare.
Background
Docking the tails of young lambs in long-tailed sheep breeds is a common practice worldwide. This practice is associated with pain, suffering and damage to the affected animals. Breeding for a shorter tail in long-tailed sheep breeds could offer one of the alternatives. This study aimed to analyze the natural tail length variation in the most common German Merino variety, and to identify possible causal alleles for the short tail phenotype segregating within a typical long-tailed breed.
Results
Haplotype-based mapping in 362 genotyped (Illumina OvineSNP50) and phenotyped Merinolandschaf lambs resulted in a genome-wide significant mapping at position 37,111,462 bp on sheep chromosome 11 and on chromosome 2 at position 94,538,115 bp (Oar_v4.0). Targeted capture sequencing of these regions in 48 selected sheep and comparative analyses of WGS data of various long and short-tailed sheep breeds as well as wild sheep subspecies identified a SNP and a SINE element as the promising candidates. The PCR genotyping of these candidates revealed complete linkage of both the candidate variants. The SINE element is located in the promotor region of HOXB13 , while the SNP was located in the first exon of HOXB13 and predicted to result in a nonsynonymous mutation.
Conclusions
Our approach successfully identified HOXB13 as candidate genes and the likely causal variants for tail length segregating within a typical long-tailed Merino breed. This would enable more precise breeding towards shorter tails, improve animal welfare by amplification of ancestral alleles and contribute to a better understanding of differential embryonic development.
Background : Tail docking and castration in lambs are permitted in the UK and are governed by multiple legislations including the Protection of Animals (Anaesthetics) Act (1954), the Veterinary Surgeons Act (1966), the Welfare of Livestock Regulations (1982), the Animal Welfare Act (2006) and the Mutilations (Permitted Procedures)(England) Regulations (2007). However, with political uncertainty and increasing consumer interest in how red meat is produced, the changing global agenda with reference to mutilations will mean that such procedures in the UK are increasingly under the spotlight and may require increasing justification on farm. Notably, the pain caused by these mutilations and their blanket use in regards to sheep production feature on the agenda of several animal welfare charities, including Compassion in World Farming and People for Ethical Treatment of Animals.
Aim of the article : With over 10 years since the publication of the Farm Animal Welfare Council's (FAWC) report discussing the implications of these mutilation procedures on the welfare of lambs (FAWC 2008), and the recent publication of the BVA's policy on tail docking and castration (BVA 2020), in this article we will review the debate. Key areas that are considered include the changes in perception of mutilations; the developments in the evidence since the FAWC's publication; the current legislation and how global practices adhere to these rules; the European perspective of mutilations; and how the ‘reduce, refine, replace’ (3Rs) approach can be applied to mutilation discussions when preparing health plans. The arguments surrounding this topic are complex and the ultimate driver for any discussion on farm should be maximising overall animal welfare.
A study was conducted to assess the stress associated with different tail docking techniques using plasma cortisol concentrations as a physiological indicator, and to determine whether the responses are ameliorated by analgesic treatments. Tails were docked by the application of rubber Elastrator rings, the use of a sharp "cold" knife or a gas-heated "hot" knife. Analgesic treatments involved administration of epidural local anaesthetic or intramuscularly administered methadone. There were significant increases (P c 0.05) in plasma cortisol concentrations in response to tail docking in the 60 minute period following the procedure. Furthermore, lambs tailed with the cold knife had significantly higher (P < 0.05) cortisol concentrations than lambs tailed with the other 2 techniques. The administration of methadone significantly lowered (P < 0.05) cortisol concentrations in contrast with epidural anaesthesia which failed to influence the cortisol responses to tail docking. INTRODUCTION It is standard practice in Australia to carry out certain animal husbandry practices, such as tail docking, castration, mulesing and dehorning, without anaesthesia or analgesia. These practices are generally recognised to cause some degree of stress and pain to the animals involved. With growing public awareness of animal welfare issues, there is increasing concern about whether these procedures cause undue stress. As a consequence there has been pressure to determine which of various alternative techniques available for certain management practices are preferable, and to examine the practicality and effectiveness of analgesic administration as a means of minimising the pain and stress associated with such practices. Activation of the pituitary-adrenal axis is a widely recognized physiological response to stressors. A variety of stressful stimuli have been demonstrated to initiate pituitary corticotroph secretion (Selye 1973). In order to assess the activity of the pituitary-adrenal axis, circulating plasma concentrations of glucocorticoid hormones, such as cortisol, are often measured as an index of stress. Indeed, plasma cortisol has been widely used to quantify the stress associated with various sheep husbandry practices, from the effects of different handling and management practices (Kilgour and de Langen 1970; Purchas 1973), to electroimmobilisation (Jephcott et al. 1986) and routine surgical procedures with lambs (Shutt et al. 1987, 1988; Mellor and Murray 1989; Wood et al. 1991). As part of a project to characterise pain and stress in lambs subjected to different methods of tail docking and to determine whether the pain and stress can be ameliorated by epidural anaesthesia or opioid analgesia, this study examined the physiological response to these procedures as indicated by changes in plasma cortisol concentrations. MATERIALS AND METHODS Preparation of animals Prior to undertaking any studies it was essential to identify each individual ewe/lamb pair SO that they could be kept together throughout the study period. This identification procedure was carried out at least a week prior to the study. It was also necessary, on a daily basis for the week leading up to the study, to familiar& the animals to the shed environment where the study was to be undertaken, and more importantly to condition the lambs to human presence and to bein, 0 handled and restrained. The potential stress and accompanying elevated blood cortisol levels associated with handlin, 0 restraint and subjection to an unfamiliar environment (Kilgour and de Langen 1970) could otherwise influence the results of the study.
Flystrike (cutaneous myiasis) in sheep has the potential to have a major impact on the welfare of significant numbers of sheep worldwide, but particularly in Australia. The main control method used in Australia, the mulesing operation to remove folds of skin from the hindquarters of the sheep, is effective in controlling the disease, but will be terminated from 2010 as a result of concerns that the operation itself has too great a negative impact on sheep welfare. Alternative treatment methods are considered, and it is proposed that they need to be appraised for each farm separately, based on the conditions prevailing and the potential to apply the different treatments. Sheep are predisposed to flystrike if their fleece is wet or contaminated with faeces or urine. Monitoring and awareness of the weather conditions will enable farmers to strategically treat their sheep with insecticides, or to observe them and treat affected animals more regularly. Frequent removal of wool by crutching, dagging and shearing will aid wool desiccation after rainfall and decrease the likelihood of fleece contamination with excreta. Some control of diarrhoea can be achieved by good grazing management and treatment of diseases that predispose sheep to the disorder. Reducing fly populations can be achieved by the use of traps, and parasitoid wasps also offer some promise. Alternative methods of removing wool and wrinkles from the hindquarters of sheep, including the topical application of quarternary ammonium compounds, phenols, caustic soda or plastic clips, have yet to be proven to be effective, without severely impacting on the welfare of the animal as well as compromising operator safety. In the long term, the breeding of sheep without wrinkles or wool on their hindquarters offers the most likely method of control, although a small proportion of sheep are affected on other parts of their body.
Pathological alterations of the tail tip are a severe problem for fattening cattle husbandry with respect to animal welfare and economic losses. We compared the frequencies of tail tip lesions and less severe skin damage in bulls on farms with slatted-floor pens (slat, n = 10), slatted floor pens with prophylactic tail docking (slat/dock, n = 9), and deep bedding pens (straw, n = 10). In addition, the subjects' weight, their space allotment and the season of the year were determined to test whether they were related to the frequency of tail tip lesions and skin damage. Results are based on 8782 tail inspections in 764 pens. The frequency of the more severe tail tip lesions was highest in slat farms, less high in slat/dock farms, and lowest in straw farms. However, the incidence of the less severe skin damage was highest in slat farms, less high in straw farms, and lowest in slat/dock farms. The frequency of tail tip lesions increased with the weight of bulls in slat and slat/dock farms, but not in straw farms. In addition, in slat and slat/dock farms the incidence of tail tip lesions increased with a decreasing space allotment. The frequency of skin damage increased with increasing weight of bulls in each housing condition. The effect of weight on the number of tail tip lesions and skin damage was stronger in autumn, ie the period following the warm season, compared to spring. Our results suggest that a soft floor and an enlarged space allotment are the most suitable means of preventing tail tip lesions in fattening bulls. Prophylactic tail docking can reduce the occurrence of tail tip lesions only to a lesser degree and may impair the animals' welfare.
A polled sheep with a short tail, and devoid of wool on the head, legs, belly and breech, has been proposed as a breeding goal (Scobie et al 1997). This paper examines the practical and welfare implications of such an objective. Mean shearing times were significantly (P < 0.001) slower for control Romney (97s) and Coopworth (88s) ewe hoggets compared to times for both breeds after they were 'trimmed' to resemble the breeding goal (47s). Romney wethers were slower to shear than ewes (P < 0.001), but trimmed wethers (53s) were much faster to shear than the untrimmed controls (99s). Trimmed sheep produced less wool (pooled mean weights of fleece wool for trimmed sheep vs total wool for controls being 2.5 vs 3.5 kg; P < 0.001), half the difference (ie 500g) consisting of lower value oddment wools from the untrimmed controls. Tails were docked to 0, 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100 per cent of the distance between the base of the tail and the hock of Perendale lambs, and 0, 20, 40 and 60 per cent on Coopworths. More dags accumulated as the tail stump increased in length, although significance was dependent on the time of year and management system. No flystrike (cutaneous myiasis) was observed in Perendales given physical and chemical protection, while a small proportion of all tail lengths were flystruck in Coopworths given only physical protection. When shorn as hoggets, the time taken to shear Perendale ewes increased with increasing tail length (P < 0.001). Provided the undocked short tail is bare of wool, the proposed breeding goal should deliver an economic solution to sheep breeders attempting to satisfy markets conscious of chemical residue and animal welfare issues in the new millennium.
Tail docking of piglets is a routine procedure on farms to control tail-biting behaviour; however, docking can cause an acute stress response. The objectives of this research were to determine the stress responses to tail docking in piglets and to compare two methods of tail docking; cautery iron (CAUT) and the more commonly used blunt trauma cutters (BT). At approximately 6 days of age, piglets were tail docked using CAUT (n = 20), BT (n = 20) or sham tail docked with their tails remaining intact (CON; n = 40). Blood samples were taken prior to tail docking and at 30, 60 and 90 min after tail docking to evaluate the effect of tail docking on white blood cell (WBC) measures and cortisol concentrations. The above experiment was repeated to observe behaviour without the periodic blood sampling, so as not to confound the effects of blood sampling on piglet behaviour. Piglet behaviour was recorded in the farrowing crate using 1 min scan-samples via live observations for 60 min prior to and 90 min after tail docking. Total WBC counts were reduced (P > 0.05) among BT and CAUT compared with CON piglets 30 min after tail docking. Cortisol concentrations were higher (P < 0.01) among BT compared with CON and CAUT piglets 60 min after tail docking. Cautery and BT-docked piglets spent more (P < 0.05) time posterior scooting compared with CON piglets between 0 and 15 min, and 31 and 45 min after tail docking. Piglets tail docked using CAUT and BT tended to spend more (P < 0.07) time sitting than CON piglets between 0 and 15 min post tail docking. Elevated blood cortisol can be reduced by the use of the CAUT rather than the BT method of tail docking. Although the tail docking-induced rise in cortisol was prevented by using CAUT, the behavioural response to BT and CAUT docking methods was similar.
This cross-sectional study evaluated cow comfort measures in free stall dairies across the United States as part of the National Animal Health Monitoring System's Dairy 2007 study. The study was conducted in 17 states and evaluations were completed between March 5 and September 5, 2007. Assessors recorded hygiene and hock scores, number of cows housed in the pen, the number of cows standing with only the front feet in a stall, standing fully in a stall, and lying in a stall. Facility design measures included bedding type, bedding quantity, stall length and width, presence of a neck rail or brisket locator, and relevant distances from the rear and bed of the stall. Of the 491 operations that completed the cow comfort assessment, 297 had Holstein cows housed in free stalls and were included in this analysis. Negative binomial models were constructed to evaluate the following outcomes: the number of cows that were very dirty, had severe hock injuries, stood with front feet in the stall, stood with all feet in the stall, and were lying in the stall. Hygiene was better on farms that did not tail dock cows compared with those that did (5.7 vs. 8.8% were dirty) and on farms located in the study's west region compared with those located in the east region (5.2 vs. 9.7% were dirty). Severe hock injuries were less common on farms in the west than those in the east (0.5 vs. 4.1%). In addition, severe hock injuries were less common on farms that used dirt as a stall base or sand as bedding compared with farms that did not. A higher percentage of cows was standing with front feet in the stall at higher ambient temperatures (incidence rate ratio=1.016) and as time since feeding increased (incidence rate ratio=1.030). A lower percentage of cows were standing with front feet in the stall when the stalls were shorter and when there were fewer cows per stall. Standing fully in a stall was performed by a higher percentage of cows during the summer than during the spring (13.6 vs. 8.1%), when cows were provided free stalls with rubber mats or mattresses, and as the distance from the rear curb to neck rail increased. A higher percentage of cows were lying in a stall when sand bedding was used, when bedding was added more frequently, and during the spring months. Results of this national survey indicate that tail docking provides no benefit to cow hygiene and that stall base and bedding are key factors influencing hock injuries and stall usage on US free stall dairy farms.
The Panel on Animal Health and Welfare was asked to deliver a Scientific Opinion on the risks associated with tail biting in pigs and possible means to reduce the need for tail docking considering the different housing and husbandry systems
A genetic solution to breech strike control is attractive, as it is potentially permanent, cumulative, would not involve increased use of chemicals and may ultimately reduce labour inputs. There appears to be significant opportunity to reduce the susceptibility of Merinos to breech strike by genetic means although it is unlikely that in the short term breeding alone will be able to confer the degree of protection provided by mulesing and tail docking. Breeding programmes that aim to replace surgical techniques of flystrike prevention could potentially: reduce breech wrinkle; increase the area of bare skin in the perineal area; reduce tail length and wool cover on and near the tail; increase shedding of breech wool; reduce susceptibility to internal parasites and diarrhoea; and increase immunological resistance to flystrike. The likely effectiveness of these approaches is reviewed and assessed here. Any breeding programme that seeks to replace surgical mulesing and tail docking will need to make sheep sufficiently resistant that the increased requirement for other strike management procedures remains within practically acceptable bounds and that levels of strike can be contained to ethically acceptable levels.
The aim of this study was to evaluate stress responses evoked by 2 alternative methods for performing the following processing procedures: 1) teeth resection-clipping vs. grinding; 2) tail docking-cold vs. hot clipping; 3) identification-ear notch vs. tag; 4) iron administration-injection vs. oral; 5) castration-cords cut vs. torn. Eight to 10 litters of 8-, 2-, and 3-d-old piglets were assigned to each procedure. Within each litter, 2 piglets were assigned to 1 of 4 possible procedures: the 2 alternative methods, a sham procedure, and a sham procedure plus blood sampling. Blood was sampled before processing and at 45 min, 4 h, 48 h, 1 wk, and 2 wk postprocedure and assayed for cortisol and beta-endorphin. Procedures were videotaped and analyzed to evaluate the time taken to perform the procedure and the number of squeals, grunts, and escape attempts. Vocalizations were analyzed to determine mean and peak frequencies and duration. Piglets were weighed before the procedure and at 24 h, 48 h, 1 wk, and 2 wk afterward. Lesions were scored on a scale of 0 to 5 on pigs in the identification, tail docking, and castration treatments at 24 h, 1 wk, and 2 wk postprocedure. For teeth resection, grinding took longer than clipping and resulted in greater cortisol concentration overall, poorer growth rates, and longer vocalizations compared with pigs in the control treatment (P<0.05). For tail docking, hot clipping took longer, and hot-clipped piglets grew slower than cold-clipped piglets (P<0.05). Hot clipping also resulted in longer and higher frequency squealing compared with pigs in the control treatment (P<0.01). For identification, ear notching took longer than tagging, and ear-notched piglets had worse wound scores than tagged piglets (P<0.05). Cortisol concentrations at 4 h also tended to be greater for ear-notched piglets (P<0.10). Ear notching evoked calls with higher peak frequencies than the control treatments. For iron administration, oral delivery took numerically longer than injecting, but there were no significant differences between injecting and oral delivery for any of the measures. For castration, tearing took longer than cutting the cords (P<0.05), but beta-endorphin concentrations at 45 min postprocedure were greater for cut piglets. When measures of behavior, physiology, and productivity were used, the responses to teeth resection, tail docking, and identification were shown to be altered by the procedural method, whereas responses to iron administration and castration did not differ. The time taken to carry out the procedure would appear to be an important factor in the strength of the stress response.
Short dock length in show lambs increases health risks and creates animal welfare concerns. The study reported here was conducted to 1) describe a population of lambs that were docked at the distal end of the caudal fold in terms of a linear measurement, and 2) determine the changes in tail length between docking, weaning, and market. A total of 782 lambs docked at the distal end of the caudal fold, comprised the population of lambs in the study. The results provide descriptive statistics to help guide industry leaders and Extension professionals concerned with docking standards at shows and sales.
The acute responses of thirty-six 7- to 17-d-old Holstein calves to tail docking using a rubber ring or a hot docking iron were examined. Plasma cortisol concentrations were measured on day 0 and day +1. Behaviour was examined on days -1, 0, +1, +2, and +5 after treatment. Milk intake, weight gain, body temperature and faeces scores were monitored. Rubber ring application caused an increase in tail grooming up to day +5 after treatment. Shorter standing and lying periods as well as higher frequencies of standing and lying on day 0 were seen in the rubber ring group. No significant differences in behaviour were observed between the control group and the docking iron group. No significant differences in plasma cortisol concentrations were found between any groups except for 60 min after treatment when the rubber ring group exhibited a significantly higher concentration than the control group. No differences in milk intake, weight gain, body temperature or faeces score were found. Tail docking with a rubber ring causes a more pronounced behavioural and physiological response than docking with a docking iron. However, long-term effects need to be investigated.
In a comparative study which examined the effect of having access to mushroom compost in an otherwise barren environment there were three treatments and six replicates. The three treatments were (T1) control barren pen providing 0·7 m2 per pig with fully slatted floor, (T2) empty horizontal rack suspended above the pigs' heads and (T3) mushroom compost on rack as in treatment 2. Pigs released particles of compost from the rack by nosing the metal grid from below. Almost twice as many pigs with access to mushroom compost (T3) nosed the rack (P < 0·001) and the ground below the rack (P < 0·001) as pigs which had a rack with no mushroom compost (T2). Fewer pigs with mushroom compost were involved in behaviours directed at penmates such as nosing, biting and chewing penmates than pigs in treatments 1 and 2 (P < 0·001). In addition fewer pigs in T3 were involved in feeding behaviour than in T1 and T2 (P < 0·05). Percentages of tail-bitten animals which had to be removed were 11 and 24 for T1 and T2 respectively while T3 had < 1% removed because of tail biting (P < 0·05). Apparent food intake was higher (P < 0·05) and food conversion ratio tended to be poorer in T1 (P = 0·1). It is suggested that pigs will redirect rooting behaviour towards penmates and the feeder in the absence of any rooting substrate. Adding substrate to commercial finishing pens reduces this redirection of behaviour and improves welfare by minimizing injury through tail biting.
Environmental enrichment is often implemented without considering the requirements of the animals within their environment and without specifying desired functional behaviours. An approach towards the development of species-specific environmental enrichment for pigs is presented here, which attempts to avoid introducing enrichment on an intuitive basis and instead uses behavioural observations of interactions with enrichment to analyse which characteristics of objects stimulate exploratory behaviour in pigs.The intensity of interactions of 222 groups of three weaner and 222 groups of three grower pigs with 74 different objects were studied during 5 days in order to find the characteristics that the favoured objects had in common. Each object was described using 28 descriptors and these were correlated with object-directed behaviour scores obtained from videos. Multiple Stepwise Regression analysis identified which of the characteristics played a major role in determining the level of object-directed behaviour. The main characteristics emerging on day 1 (odorous, deformable, not rootable, not attached, chewable) reflected the initial attractiveness of an object. The main characteristics emerging on day 5 (ingestible, destructible, contained, not particulate, not rootable) reflected sustained attention towards an object. These results underline the importance of enrichment for pigs which stimulates foraging and explorative behaviour. The approach proved to be a useful tool and may be used for other species to assess the importance of different environmental features. The optimal combination of the important characteristics can be used to design functional environmental enrichment, which takes into consideration species-relevant requirements.
Exogenous adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH) leads to a marked increase in salt appetite in mice, rats, rabbits and sheep. In a previous study, pigs treated with ACTH did not increase their ingestion of salt solutions [Physiol. Behav. 78 (2003a) 277], but providing salt in solution may not be an appropriate vehicle for studying salt appetite in pigs. Therefore, in this study, the effect of ACTH on chewing behavior directed at rope tail-models flavored with whole pig’s blood, tap water or a salt solution having the same salt content as blood was examined. Sixteen individually housed pigs (33 kg) were divided into two groups: an ACTH-treatment group, receiving intramuscular injections of long-acting ACTH (50 IU twice daily for 5 days) and a control group, receiving no injections. Chewing behavior directed at water-soaked, salt-flavored or blood-flavored tail-models was observed during two 30-min periods per day for 15 days. Overall, chewing of tail-models tended to decrease in ACTH-treated pigs during the injection period with a significant reduction in chewing directed at blood-flavored models (P<0.05). A decrease in standing (P<0.05) and sitting (P<0.05) was also observed in ACTH-treated pigs during the injection period. Water (P<0.05) and feed intakes (P<0.001) significantly increased during the period of ACTH treatment. The incidence of chewing directed at blood-flavored models was greater than that directed at models soaked in water or salt for all pigs, regardless of treatment or period (P<0.05). Growing pigs do not appear to develop a salt appetite or attraction to blood when given exogenous ACTH. It does not appear that salt content is what is attracting pigs to blood.
The behavioural responses of groups of 10 lambs were examined for 90min following a range of commonly used husbandry procedures. The treatment groups were, control handling only (control); ear tagging (ET); tail docking by hot docking iron (HD); tail docking by rubber rings (RRT); castration by rubber rings (RRC); tail docking and castration by rubber rings (RRTRRC); HD plus Mulesing plus ET (HDMET); HD plus RRC plus Mulesing plus ET (HDRRCMET). ET produced no discernible changes in behavioural or postural indicators and HD showed small non-significant increases in active pain behaviours and abnormal postures. All treatments involving the use of tight rubber rings (RRT, RRC, RRTRRC, HDRRCMET) resulted in significant abnormal posture and active pain behaviour displays. HDMET produced few active pain behaviours but significantly increased the time spent in abnormal postures. An integrated score based upon the incidence of active pain behaviours and abnormal postures ranked the pain response of the treatments in the following order control = ET < HD < HDMET < RRT = HDRRCMET = RRC < RRTRRC.
This trial compared the behaviour of 720 growing–finishing pigs, progeny of either indoor (Large White × Landrace) or outdoor (part-Meishan or part-Duroc) sows mated to Large White boars, when housed in either outdoor paddocks, straw yards or fully-slatted pens. Space allowance per pig in outdoor paddocks, straw yards and fully-slatted pens was 19.98, 1.63 and 0.55m2, respectively with a group size of 20. Pigs were fed ad libitum from an average of 30–80kg liveweight. Pig behaviour was observed during daylight for a total of 6h, using both individual (focal) and group (scan) sampling. There were relatively few differences in behaviour between genotypes, although the outdoor genotype spent a higher proportion of observations in straw yards and fully-slatted pens engaged in social activity (P
The behaviour of 279 newborn Large White × Landrace hybrid piglets in a Specific Pathogen Free Piggery (University of Queensland, Australia) was recorded during and after routine management practices of tail docking, ear notching and teeth clipping. The behaviours were recorded at the time of the procedure and then at 30 s intervals for 2 min after completion of the procedure. Piglets that received one or all of the procedures behaved differently (P<0.05) from piglets that were merely held for a similar time. Additionally, the behaviour of piglets differed significantly (P<0.05) depending on what procedure was performed.The behaviours observed were often correlated with a particular procedure: tail docking caused more tail jamming and wagging; head shaking occurred most with ear notching; teeth clipping caused more teeth champing. Grunting during and in the first 60 s after the procedure was most frequent for piglets that had their tails docked. There was a high degree of individual variation within each litter for piglets undergoing the same procedure. The frequency of behaviours was greatest immediately after the procedure. The statistical differences evident in the period 0–30 s decreased over time and eventually disappeared after approximately 2 min. Restraint of the piglet appeared to be stressful in itself. However, restraint combined with a procedure resulted in an alteration of the behaviour from the basal levels shown by piglets that were only handled. This change in behaviour could indicate that routine management procedures (although transient) are stressful to the piglet and warrant investigation into ways to alleviate this distress.
Canvas models, about the size of a pig's tail, were impregnated with pigs' blood or left plain, and were presented to pigs for 12 days in a 2-choice preference test. The pigs showed large, consistent, individual differences in response: some pigs chewed the models continuously while others chewed only slightly; some chewed much more on the blood-covered model, while others showed no preference. On average, the pigs chewed considerably more on the blood-covered model than on the plain one. In a second experiment, pigs presented with a choice test involving a blood-covered and a plain model showed a significant increase in chewing over a baseline level seen with plain models only. It is suggested that this strong but highly variable response to blood could explain how a relatively minor tail injury can stimulate a large but unpredictable increase in tail-biting among pigs.
These experiments were performed to evaluate the acute and chronic stress responses of lambs during a common, yet invasive management procedure, tail docking (tail amputation). Tail docking had no effect on the average daily weight gain of lambs. Tail docking had a significant acute endocrine effect; cortisol levels were consistently higher in the docked animals (17.1 ± 1.6 ng/ml) versus the control animals (7.4 ± 0.8 ng/ml). Chronically, cortisol levels were highest shortly after docking and returned to basal levels by 3 days after docking. These data indicate that tail docking elicits an immediate, but not sustained, stress response.
The aims of this study were to assess the effects of: (1) environmental enrichment with either straw bedding or a hanging manipulable toy and (2) the ratio of pigs to environmental enrichment when toys are provided. One thousand and twenty four (Large White×Landrace)×Large White pigs were housed contemporarily, in 32 pen groups of 32 pigs (16 pens in each housing system), in matched straw-bedded (ST) or fully-slatted (FS) buildings from 35kg to slaughter at 104kg liveweight. In the ST building, half of the pens were enriched only by the straw bedding and half received additional enrichment in the form of a single hanging ‘toy’. In the FS house, half of the pens were provided with the same hanging toy, whilst the remaining pens were provided with four such toys. Time spent in toy manipulation was
Summary Experiments were conducted with 300 growing-finishing swine in confinement on slotted floors to study the effects of adding .11% Mg from MgO to a ground yellow dent corn-soybean meal (soybean seeds without hulls, solvent-extracted ground) fortified diet (table 1). Also studied were the effects of crowding, i.e., 6.86 sq ft vs 4.57 sq ft per pig (.63 sq m vs .43 sq m). The higher population density reduced average daily gains (P < .01) in both tests, and increased feed/gain ratio (P < .05) in Experiment I. Pigs docked vs litter- mates with tails had similar performance in both population densities, with or without added Mg. In the high density populations, a significantly lower percentage of the pigs were observed to be standing and a higher percentage lying than in the low density populations. These differences were greater as the experi- ments progressed and the pigs increased in size. Magnesium did not significantly affect the percentage of pigs standing, lying, eating, or drinking in either the high or the low density groups.
The experiment aimed to investigate the effect of type of rooting material and space allowance on explorative and abnormal behaviour in growing pigs. Thirty-six pens with partly slatted concrete floor were allocated to one of four treatments: (1) low space allowance and maize silage as rooting material, (2) high space allowance and maize silage as rooting material, (3) low space allowance and straw as rooting material, and (4) high space allowance and straw as rooting material. Pens with low space allowance had 17 pigs (0.64m2/pig), while pens with high space allowance had 11 pigs (1.0m2/pig). Behaviour was recorded by instantaneous sampling during 1h before and 1h after the daily allocation of rooting material at 10.00h, as well as during 1h in the afternoon starting at 13.00h. Observations were conducted at 13 and 20 weeks of age. Pigs offered maize silage manipulated rooting material more (23% vs. 19% of the pigs; P
In previous work using rope flavored with various solutions as a model to study tail biting, pigs generally show a preference for the blood-flavored models compared to untreated models or models soaked in NaCl solutions or different fractions of blood. However, in these studies tail models were not balanced for color and it is unclear what stimuli may be serving to attract pigs to blood. In this study, pigs’ preference for different flavored tail-models balanced for color was determined. The chewing behavior of 16 individually housed pigs was observed twice daily for 10 days. Water-soaked, salt-flavored or blood-flavored tail-models were dyed with a red food coloring agent to appear similar in color. Pigs preferred to chew on tail models soaked in blood and dye to either of those soaked in just red food dye or salt solution plus red dye (P
Both enrichment of the environment and increasing space allowance result in a reduction in nosing and tail biting behaviour among growing pigs. The aim of this study was to identify which factor, enrichment or space allowance, had more influence on pig behaviour. A five treatment randomized block design with four replicates was used. Newly weaned 6-week-old pigs in groups of six littermates were placed in enriched environments with allocated floor space on Treatments 1 to 4 of 0.5, 1.1, 1.7 or 2.3 m2 per pig, respectively. Treatment 5 was identical to Treatment 4, except for the absence of enriching elements which included free access to the substrates peat and straw. The pigs remained in these environments for 6 weeks and were fed ad libitum. Two focal animals (1 boar and 1 gilt) per group were each observed for 10 min twice per week. The ethogram used attempted to record the full behavioural repertoire of the growing pig. The results show that there was less exploration of substrates and more inactivity in Treatments 1 and 5 than in the other three treatments (P < 0.05). Pigs demonstrated more locomotory behaviour when given greater floor space in enriched pens (P < 0.05). Duration of harmful social behaviour was greater in the barren treatment than in the four enriched treatments (P < 0.01). Production performance, measured by weight gain and feed conversion efficiency, tended to be better in Treatments 1, 2 and 3 indicating that increasing space allowance beyond 1.1 m2 per pig was not beneficial. From this study it is concluded that enrichment played a greater role in determining pig behaviour than floor space allowance.
Four consecutive studies were carried out over a 3-year period to assess the health and welfare implications of housing finishing pigs in either fully-slatted or straw-bedded accommodation. In each study, 1024 (Large White x Landrace) x Large White pigs, housed in pen groups of 32, were fed ad libitum from 34 kg to slaughter at 104 kg live weight. Eight batches of pigs were received in each study and allocated alternately to fill one room of four pens in each house. Data were collected on a range of welfare parameters. Lameness (P < 0.001) and bitten tails (P < 0.001) were more prevalent health problems in the fullyslatted system, whilst in the straw-bedded system pigs showed more respiratory (P < 0.01) and PMWS-type symptoms (P < 0.01). Acute phase protein titres at slaughter were higher in pigs from the fully-slatted system (P < 0.001). Skin lesion score did not differ between systems; however, bursitis was more severe in pigs in the fully-slatted system (P < 0.001). Pigs in the straw-bedded system had poorer hygiene scores (P < 0.001), but the magnitude of this difference varied between studies depending on season. Pigs with straw were more active (P < 0.001), spending a large proportion of time manipulating straw. In the absence of straw, pigs spent more time in behaviour directed at other pigs (P < 0.001) and the pen components (P < 0.001). Post-slaughter assessment showed no system differences in lung lesions and cardiac scores, or osteochondrosis. Pigs with straw had more severe toe erosions on the foot (P < 0.001), whilst pigs without straw had more severe sole (P < 0.001) and heel erosions (P < 0.001). Gastric lesion scores were lower in the fully-slatted system (P < 0.001). The results show both advantages and disadvantages to each of the housing systems for pig welfare. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved
Tail biting is an abnormal behaviour of pigs that is thought to have a multi-factorial origin. It is considered an unpredictable event on farms and is hard to reproduce experimentally. Therefore, a novel approach involving a case control study was used to investigate risk factors for tail biting on commercial units in England. Ninety-two pig farms across England were visited over a period of 11 months. At each visit, the owner or the manager of the unit was interviewed and the unit inspected. Data were recorded on standard forms. Farms were categorised into those that had tail biting in at least one pig in the past 6 months and those that had not. Univariate and logistic regression analyses yielded the following main results. Adding straw in the creep area once or more per day decreased the risk of tail biting 10-fold. Keeping grower pigs on partially or fully slatted floors versus solid floor increased risks of tail biting (odds ratio (OR)=3.2). Using a feeding system with five or more grower pigs per feed space increased risks of tail biting (OR=2.7). A stocking density during the growing phase of 110kg/m2 or greater increased risks of tail biting (OR=2.7). Farms that belonged to a holding of five or more pig units had an increased risk of tail biting (OR=3.5). As the number of pens per stockman increased by one, the risk of tail biting increased 1.06-fold. Tail biting was also associated with the following disease and production information: as the P2 back-fat value increased by 1mm, the risk of tail biting decreased by 1.5-fold; post-weaning mortality above 2.5% was associated with a 3.9-fold increase in the risk of tail biting; presence of respiratory diseases was associated with a 1.6-fold increase in the risk of tail biting. Tail docking was associated with a three-fold increase in the risk of tail biting. This study has identified and quantified some management practices on commercial farms that can be changed to decrease the risk of tail biting in growing and finishing pigs.
The objective of this study was to explore the effects of tail docking and tail biting on pig welfare through an assessment of physiology and behaviour. In experiment 1, piglets were either tail docked using hot cautery iron (CAUT), blunt trauma cutters (BT), or their tails were left intact (CON). Blood samples were taken from pigs at 3 and 7 weeks of age to measure C-reactive protein (CRP). Tail-biting lesions were scored at 3, 5, and 7 weeks of age. Behaviour was recorded for 72 h when tail biting was observed in 7-week old pigs. Tail-biting lesion scores were similar among treatments at 3 and 5 weeks of age, however at 7 weeks lesion scores were greater among CON compared with CAUT and BT pigs. Bodyweights were lower among CON compared with CAUT or BT pigs and CRP was elevated among CON compared with CAUT and BT pigs at 7 weeks of age. In experiment 2, piglets were tail docked at a length of 2 cm (Short) or 5 cm (Long). Tail-biting lesions were scored every 2 weeks until the end of finishing. Tail-biting lesion scores were greater among Long compared with Short pigs. Compromised welfare of tail-bitten pigs was indicated by severity of lesion, level of CRP, and reduced pig bodyweights. More research is needed into understanding the causative factors behind tail biting in pigs, so that preventative measures can be adopted on farms to prevent this behaviour
The intention of the new European legislation on rooting materials for pigs is to improve the welfare of pigs. The question is: which materials are suitable rooting materials for pigs? To answer this question the motivation for exploration in pigs is elucidated and the needs of the pigs in this context are discussed. The effects of different materials on the behaviour of pigs are listed and the preferences of pigs for numerous different materials are compared. Based on the literature on the normal behaviour of pigs and studies on pigs' use of and preferences for various materials, we conclude that in order to be a suitable rooting material the material must stimulate the exploratory behaviour of pigs for an extended length of time. Exploratory behaviour in pigs is best stimulated by materials that are complex, changeable, destructible, manipulable, and contain sparsely distributed edible parts. # 2006 Published by Elsevier B.V.
Clinical tail-biters were identified over a 12-month period at a commercial nucleus pig-breeding farm that had a history of tail-biting problems. The breed, gender, and relative size of the tail-biters were recorded. Using pedigree data for all the pigs on the farm at the time of observations, the heritability of the tail-biting behaviour was estimated for purebred Large White (LW) and Landrace (LR) pigs. The incidence of tail-biting was 2.8% for Large White and 3.5% for Landrace (breed effects, P<0.10). Tail-biting was found to be heritable in Landrace (h2=0.05±0.02, P<0.05 as a 0–1 trait, equivalent to h2=0.27 as a continuous trait), but not heritable in Large White pigs (h2=0.00±0.00, as a 0–1 trait). In the Landrace population, tail-biting was unfavourably genetically correlated with leanness [lean tissue growth rate (LTGR; rg=0.27, P<0.05), and back fat (BF) thickness at 90 kg (rg=−0.28, P<0.05)]. It is concluded that past selection for desirable production traits may have resulted in increased predisposition to exhibit tail-biting behaviour. From the correlations and covariance matrix reported, it would be possible to develop a selection index to reduce the predisposition to exhibit tail-biting behaviour through selective breeding.
The effects of straw on the behaviour of young growing pigs were studied in two experiments. In Experiment 1, groups of three pigs, aged about 7 weeks, were housed in raised decks with or without straw bedding. Time-lapse video recording showed no major differences between treatments in the amount or daily pattern of overall activity and feeding. Detailed observations showed that bedding reduced the incidence of rooting and chewing on pen-mates, but had little effect on other social activities such as mounting and aggressive biting. Experiment 2 compared groups of eight growing pigs aged about 10 weeks, housed in floor pens with or without a small amount of straw provided daily in a rack. Pigs with straw concentrated more of their daily activity into the period when straw was fresh, but the total amount of overall activity and time spent feeding were not affected. Rooting and chewing of pen-mates were the only social activities reduced by the provision of fresh straw. In these studies, where straw was not required to compensate for deficiencies such as low temperatures or hunger, the one major function of straw was to provide a stimulus and outlet for rooting and chewing, with a resulting reduction in such activities directed at pen-mates.
While extensive research on tail biting among pigs has focused on external factors (e.g., enrichment material), limited research has been conducted on internal factors (e.g., gender, breed or age), which may affect the predisposition of piglets to start tail biting. Furthermore, to test internal or external factors, most previous research used end point observations (e.g., tail damage at abattoirs). However, the potential factors causing tail biting, and the expression of tail biting itself can change over time as pigs grow older. Tail damage development over time might provide more accurate information on external and internal factors affecting tail biting than end point observation. Using tail damage development, we studied the effect of gender in single-sex and mixed-sex groups on tail biting. Tail damage development was recorded two ways: a) number of days before 40% of the piglets was observed with tail damage (40% incident point) and b) number of days a piglet was observed with tail damage (tail damage duration). A 2 × 2 factorial design was used and this resulted in four treatment categories: (1) all-male groups, (2) all-female groups, (3) males in mixed-sex groups and (4) females in mixed-sex groups. During the observation period tail damage (no damage, bite marks or tail wound) of 700 weaned piglets was scored three times per week for 32 days. Following the onset of tail biting, all-female groups had a lower 40% tail damage incident point (10.9 days), compared to the other three treatment categories (average of 16 days; P < 0.05). In all-female groups, piglets also had a higher tail damage duration (20.2 days), compared to the other three treatment categories (average of 16 days; P < 0.05). Several interactions between gender and mixing were found (P < 0.05); males in mixed-sex groups had a lower 40% tail damage incident point and a higher tail damage duration than females in mixed-sex groups. These results indicate that female piglets are more likely to tail bite compared to male piglets. Furthermore, at the end of the observation period, tail damage had developed to high levels in all groups and, at that point, differences between all-female groups and the other groups were absent. Tail damage development is therefore a better way to analyse the effects of external and internal factors that result in tail biting, compared to methods based on end point analyses.
The aims of this study were to evaluate four preventive measures and two curative treatments of tail biting. The preventive measures were: chain, rubber hose, straw rack (5 g/pig/day) and the provision of straw on the floor twice daily by hand (2 × 10 g/pig/day). The two curative treatments, which were applied following the onset of tail biting in a pen were: straw twice daily (as in the fourth preventive measure) and the removal of the biter. In total, 960 undocked weaned piglets (10 piglets per pen) were observed during 5 weeks. Tail lesions (none, bite marks and wounds) were recorded daily. The incidence of pens with wounded pig tails was significantly lower when straw was provided twice daily (8% of pens) compared to the chain (58% of pens) and rubber hose (54% of pens) treatment, but did not differ significantly from the straw rack treatment (29% of pens). Tails with bite marks were significantly less common in pens with twice daily straw (16% of pens) compared to chain (88% of pens), rubber hose (79% of pens) and straw rack (75% of pens). No significant difference was found between the curative treatments. Both treatments showed a reduced incidence of red fresh blood on the tails at days 1¿9 following curative treatment, compared to day 0. However, neither curative treatment eliminated tail biting entirely. In conclusion, this study indicates that tail biting is best prevented with a small amount of straw, provided twice daily, and to a lesser extent with a straw rack, compared to providing a chain or a rubber hose. Once tail biting has occurred, providing a small amount of straw twice daily and removing the biter appears to be equally effective.
Tail-biting data from different studies are difficult to compare because a range of definitions of tail-biting behaviour and tail-biting lesions are used. Although records from abattoirs provide a large database, their usefulness is restricted as tail-biting is under-recorded and environmental and husbandry factors associated with the behaviour are unlikely to be known. Both farm and abattoir data provide no information on the number of pigs biting, only those bitten. Studying individual animals that tail-bite should give a better understanding of the pig's motivation to tail-bite and which of the components of its environment should be adjusted to improve welfare. This review examines the existing literature on tail-biting in pigs but considered from a new perspective using three different descriptive behavioural types, namely, 'two-stage', 'sudden-forceful' and 'obsessive', each of which may have different motivational bases. The article also considers the different environmental and husbandry factors which may affect each type of behaviour and discusses why this is such a complicated field and why it is often difficult to draw conclusions from available research.
The extent of inflammation associated with tail biting in finishing pigs was evaluated. Tail histopathology, carcass condemnation and the concentration of three acute phase proteins (APPs), C-reactive protein (CRP), serum amyloid-A (SAA) and haptoglobin (Hp), were examined in 12 tail-bitten and 13 control pigs. The median concentrations of APPs were higher (P<0.01) in bitten (CRP 617.5mg/L, range 80.5-969.9; SAA 128.0mg/L, 6.2-774.4; Hp 2.8g/L, 1.6-3.5) than in control pigs (CRP 65.7mg/L, 28.4-180.4; SAA 6.2mg/L, 6.2-21.4; Hp 1.2g/L, 0.9-1.5). There was a tendency for APP concentrations to rise with the histopathological score but the differences were only statistically significant between some of the scores. Five (42%) bitten cases and one (8%) control pig had partial carcass condemnations owing to abscesses (P=0.07). The results show that tail biting induces an inflammatory response in the tail end leading to an acute phase response and formation of carcass abscesses.
Tabular reference: reproduction, lambing, health, and pasture management; parasites; feeding practices
This study was designed to explore the relationship between cow and udder cleanliness scores and the risk of isolation of Klebsiella spp. from lower hind legs and teat ends, respectively. The distribution of Klebsiella species was compared among isolates from teat ends, legs, and cases of clinical mastitis obtained from 2 dairy farms in New York State, with 850 and 1,000 cows, respectively. Farms were visited twice approximately 4 wk apart in August and September 2007 to obtain cleanliness scores and swabs from legs and teats. Isolates of Klebsiella clinical mastitis from each farm were collected from July through October 2007. Two studies were conducted. In the first study, whole-cow cleanliness of a purposive sample of 200 lactating cows was scored using a 4-point scale, and swabs were taken from their lower hind legs. In the second study, udder cleanliness of a separate convenience sample of 199 lactating cows was scored in the milking parlor, and swabs were taken from their teat ends before and after premilking udder preparation. Prevalence of Klebsiella spp. on legs and teat ends before udder preparation was 59 and 60%, respectively. Logistic regression was used to explore the association between isolation of Klebsiella spp. and cleanliness scores. Cow cleanliness scores and udder cleanliness scores were not associated with detection of Klebsiella on legs and on teats before udder preparation, respectively. After udder preparation, 43% of previously Klebsiella positive teat end samples remained positive, with significant differences between farms and months. Teats from dirty udders were significantly more likely to test positive for Klebsiella after udder preparation than teats from clean udders. The proportion of Klebsiella pneumoniae and Klebsiella oxytoca isolates was similar for isolates from teat end swabs and clinical mastitis cases, supporting the notion that the presence of Klebsiella on teat ends may lead to opportunistic intramammary infections. Udder cleanliness scores could be used as a management tool to monitor the risk of exposure to Klebsiella spp. on teat ends.
Merino sheep were treated with purgative to induce scouring and the effects of tail length and sex on the incidence and origin of breech strike were examined. In sheep treated with the modified Mules operation, those with tails docked very short were strongly predisposed to tail strike, and to a lesser extent, crutch strike. Tails docked level with, or just below, the tip of the vulva in ewes, and at the equivalent length in wethers, were struck far less frequently. Within each tail length group, wethers tended to be more susceptible than ewes. L. cuprina was the principal species of fly involved in strikes, although the presence of L. sericata and C. augur was conspicuous.
The prevalence and control of blowfly strike in England and Wales was investigated by a postal survey of 2451 sheep farmers, divided into five regions, who were asked about the blowfly seasons of 1988 and 1989. These were important years for the control of blowfly strike because the number of compulsory dips for the control of sheep scab was reduced from two to one in 1989. The response rate was 74.2 per cent. A larger proportion of farmers in the south west and south east reported strike (90 per cent), than in the north of England (60 per cent). The proportion of sheep with strike showed a similar regional variation (0.7 per cent in the north of England to 2.8 per cent in the south west). Dipping was the most common method of blowfly control, followed by tail amputation, dagging, spraying and cyromazine. Twenty per cent of farmers reported reducing the frequency of dipping in 1989, and of those 20 per cent increased the frequency of spraying and 20 per cent used cyromazine.
Docked and undocked lambs tails obtained after slaughter were examined grossly and histopathologically. Stump and complex neuromata were identified in docked tails.