Causes and Prevention of Tail Biting in Growing Pigs: a Review of Recent Research

The problem of tail biting has probably been around for as long as pigs have been raised indoors. A recent review of the literature cites mention of the problem going back as far as 1896 but reports of tail-biting first appeared in veterinary journals in the 1940's (SchroderPetersen and Simonsen, 2001). While the causes and "remedies" for tail biting are often discussed in veterinary texts, journals and practical husbandry guides, there really have been very few studies that have systematically investigated the development of tail biting or its underlying behavioural mechanisms. This is probably due to the very nature of tail biting outbreaks are sporadic and unpredictablewhich makes it very difficult to study in a research setting. Consequently, many of our accepted notions for why it occurs, and the measures that can be taken to prevent or alleviate tail biting are based on conventional wisdom or speculation. When tracing back some of these notions through the literature one finds that certain "facts" about the behaviour are based on observations made of a single case study.