Prevalence of tail damage and ear lesions in docked and undocked pigs during trials to find alternatives to tail docking on Spanish commercial farms
Background Tail docking is widely used to control tail biting in pigs, but it is a painful and stressful procedure. The impact of non-docking trials on tail damage (TD) and ear lesions (EL) from weaning to slaughter was assessed on four commercial farms. Methods A total of 898 docked pigs (396 DP) o...
| Autores: | , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2024 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Institut de Recerca i Tecnologia Agroalimentàries (IRTA) |
| Repositorio: | IRTA Pubpro. Open Digital Archive |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:repositori.irta.cat:20.500.12327/3289 |
| Acceso en línea: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12327/3289 https://doi.org/10.1002/vetr.4436 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | 636 |
| Sumario: | Background Tail docking is widely used to control tail biting in pigs, but it is a painful and stressful procedure. The impact of non-docking trials on tail damage (TD) and ear lesions (EL) from weaning to slaughter was assessed on four commercial farms. Methods A total of 898 docked pigs (396 DP) or undocked pigs (502 UP) were assessed for tail damage and ear lesions at the beginning and end of the weaner stage, during fattening and at the abattoir during slaughter. Results The percentage of UP with shortened tails increased significantly from weaning to fattening, but the percentage of non-inflamed tails and tails without fresh lesions increased. In terms of severity of lesion, a lower percentage of pigs scored as ‘no visible lesion’ at the end of weaning compared to fattening, both for UP and DP (p < 0.05). DP always had a lower percentage of TD, whereas UP had a lower percentage of EL at the end of weaning. Limitation It was not possible to statistically compare different preventive strategies trialed on farms as alternatives to docking. Conclusion This study highlights that combining tail length and lesion score at slaughter could be a reliable on-farm welfare indicator. |
|---|