Tail Biting in Pigs
نویسندگان
چکیده
Tail biting represents both a major animal welfare and economic problem for the pig industry with losses due to reduced weight gain, increased on-farm veterinary treatment, culling and carcass condemnation. Tail biting has a multifactorial origin. It is known to be sporadic, making outbreaks difficult to predict and understand, even within the same facilities and under similar management systems. Nowadays, more than two third of the growing pig farms report some tail damage due to tail biting.
منابع مشابه
Using data from electronic feeders on visit frequency and feed consumption to indicate tail biting outbreaks in commercial pig production.
The long term aim with this study was to identify predictors or early indicators of tail biting outbreaks using registrations from electronic feeders. This study is based on information about daily frequency of feeder visits (DFV) and daily feed consumption (DFC) recorded in electronic feeders from 460 noncastrated boars in tail biting pens (TB pens, n = 21) and matched control pens (Con pens, ...
متن کاملBehavioural and Brain Gene Expression Profiling in Pigs during Tail Biting Outbreaks – Evidence of a Tail Biting Resistant Phenotype
Abnormal tail biting behaviour is a major welfare problem for pigs receiving the behaviour, as well as an indication of decreased welfare in the pigs performing it. However, not all pigs in a pen perform or receive tail biting behaviour and it has recently been shown that these 'neutral' pigs not only differ in their behaviour, but also in their gene expression compared to performers and receiv...
متن کاملFactors identifying pigs predisposed to tail biting
Approximately 5% of pigs slaughtered in the UK have been tail-bitten, leading to welfare and production issues. Tail biting is sporadic and not all pigs tail bite. The aim of this study was to identify factors that are common in pigs that perform tail-biting behaviour, and that might be used in a predictive way to identify such animals. The behaviour of 159 pigs was observed in the post-weaning...
متن کاملJejunal morphology and blood metabolites in tail biting, victim and control pigs.
Tail biting has several identified feeding-related risk factors. Tail biters are often said to be lighter and thinner than other pigs in the pen, possibly because of nutrition-related problems such as reduced feed intake or inability to use nutrients efficiently. This can lead to an increase in foraging behavior and tail biting. In this study, a total of 55 pigs of different ages were selected ...
متن کاملTail Biting and Feather Pecking: Using Genomics and Ethology to Explore Motivational Backgrounds
It is well known that abnormal animal behaviour is affected by both environment and genetics. This thesis aimed to use behavioural observations as well as gene expression measurements to explore how animals that perform and receive tail biting (pigs) and feather pecking (laying hens) differ from individuals that are not involved in these behaviours. In study I, the results suggested that tail b...
متن کاملPhysiological indicators of stress and meat and carcass characteristics in tail bitten slaughter pigs
BACKGROUND Tail biting is a common welfare problem in pig production and in addition to being a sign of underlying welfare problems, tail biting reduces welfare in itself. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of tail biting on different pre and post mortem indicators of stress in slaughter pigs and on carcass and meat characteristics. A total of 12 tail bitten (TB) and 13 control (...
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