BACKGROUND Tail biting is a common problem in intensive pig farming, affecting both welfare and production. Although routine tail docking is banned within the EU, it remains a common practice to prevent tail biting. Straw as environmental enrichment has been proposed as an alternative to tail docking, but its effectiveness against tail biting and function in manure handling systems have to be c...

The objective of this experiment was to compare the effects of tail docking and teeth clipping on the growth and behavior of pigs. Pigs (n = 126) from 21 litters (6 pigs/litter) were blocked by birth weight, and assigned at 3 d of age within blocks to either teeth clipping and tail docking (processed) or control (sham-processed). Vocalizations of pigs were recorded during the procedures, and be...

<1> Accession Number 20143035112 Author Fadeyemi, A. J. Title Tail docking in dogs: evaluation of current practices and ethical aspects in southwest Nigeria. Source Journal of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Health; 2014. 6(1):18-24. 21 ref. Publisher Academic Journals Location of Publisher Nairobi Country of Publication Kenya Abstract This study evaluated the current practices of tail docking i...

Pigs reared in intensive production systems often express abnormal cannibalistic behaviours, such as tail biting (Schroder-Peterson & Simonsen, 2001). The occurrence of tail biting is difficult to predict but is believed to arise from several complex factors, particularly lack of environmental enrichment as well as inadequate food intake (Moinard et al., 2002; EFSA, 2007). The presence of canni...

Docking the tails of dairy cattle causes mild to moderate behavior changes and physiological indicators of acute pain, but no studies have investigated the possibility that tail docking may lead to chronic pain. In human amputees, an incidence of increased limb surface temperature is associated with phantom limb pain, a central nervous system representation that survives peripheral loss. The ob...

Freedom from pain and physical distress is widely accepted as being a critical part of animal welfare. However, in order to minimize suffering by the animal we must first devise a scale with which to assess the degree of pain that it is feeling. There have been several important developments in animal research in the last twelve months pertaining to pain evaluation in animals. The aim of each o...

One hundred and twenty pigs were used to evaluate the effects of housing indoors on concrete slats or outside in dirt lots on tail biting, weight gains, behavior and immune function for pigs with intact tails or with tails docked. Pig performance was largely not influenced by treatments, even when cannibalism was found. When pigs began biting tails in particular pens, many pigs’ tails were not ...