Understanding and preventing tail biting in pigs

Tail biting is a behavioural problem of pigs which is associated with welfare detriment for both the perpetrator and victim. It is seen to some extent on most farms worldwide and causes considerable economic loss, leading to widespread adoption of tail docking for risk reduction. Its occurrence is often sporadic and unpredictable, as a result of the many different combinations of chronic and acute risk factors which can be present on individual farms. Understanding of the underlying (neuro)physiological mechanisms which lead an individual pig to initiate tail biting is still incomplete, but stress, pro-inflammatory cytokine production, changes in amino acid metabolism and serotonergic brain pathways have been implicated. Rearing pigs with undocked tails and without tail biting is still challenging in commercial practice and requires a high quality of management and stockmanship to minimise risk, detect early warning signs of biting and intervene appropriately.

The role of enrichment in optimizing pig behaviour and welfare

Modern pig housing environments provide animals with essential resources, but from an animal’s point of view, they are quite barren and deprive them of the opportunity to make full use of their natural behavioural repertoire and actively work for these resources. The lack of stimulation resulting from such environments compromises animal welfare. This issue can be addressed by providing environmental enrichment, which comprises all aspects of an animal’s environment that facilitate engagement in species-specific behaviours. In this chapter, we provide an overview of different types of enrichment, ranging from artificial point-source objects to social and cognitive enrichment. We discuss the existing body of evidence for welfare-enhancing effects of different enrichment, focussing on whether potential enrichment promotes natural behaviours, reduces abnormal behaviours, and whether effects are sustainable over the long-term. We conclude with a comparative evaluation of enrichment from an animal welfare perspective, highlighting the potential of social and cognitive enrichment.

Advances in technologies for monitoring pig welfare

The pig sector undergoes a major transformation characterized by intensification, geographic concentration, vertical integration and increasing scales of production. This creates new challenges for animal welfare. Sensor technology offers multiple advantages for monitoring key indicators of welfare in pigs that can help addressing these new challenges in the pig sector. Technology allows continuous and objective monitoring on individual and group level, on multiple farms and also in various environments. Real-time implementation of sensor based monitoring systems makes it possible to detect a problem and to take immediate action to improve the life of the animal under consideration. This chapter reviews recent advances in technologies for monitoring key indicators of pig welfare by considering good feeding, good housing, good health and appropriate behaviour. It presents how accelerometer based nest-building detection system can contribute to improvement of pig welfare and major future trends in development of monitoring technology.

Evidence of pain in piglets subjected to invasive management procedures

In this chapter, the authors examine the physiological and behavioural reactions in pigs submitted to tissue damaging procedures. They are grouped in three parts: (1) neural, (2) hormonal and metabolic and (3) behavioural consequences. The chapter focuses on surgical castration, tail docking and tooth resection that are very common in the pig industry.

Assessing emotions in pigs: determining negative and positive mental states

This chapter reviews assessing emotions in pigs, specifically focusing on the ways of determining negative and positive mental states. It begins by examining behavioural indicators of emotion such as behavioural tests, qualitative behaviour assessment, vocalisations, play behaviour, defence cascade responses and facial expression and body posture. The chapter also assesses cognitive indicators of emotion in pigs and judgement bias. This is followed by a discussion of neurophysiological indicators of emotion in pigs, focusing specifically on the physiology of negative and positive emotions.

Optimising pig welfare in breeding and gestation

This chapter considers factors affecting the welfare of pigs during breeding and gestation and provides recommendations on optimising their welfare in commercial conditions. The chapter concludes with a summary of the main findings and a discussion of future opportunities to safeguard pig welfare.

Optimising sow and piglet welfare during farrowing and lactation

Optimising welfare in the farrowing and lactation environment involves resolving the concerns regarding continued use of close confinement systems, such as the farrowing crate for the sows and the lack of provision of environmental enrichment to provide for behavioural needs. For piglets the main welfare and health issues surround high levels of piglet mortality and the pre-disposing risk factors associated with them. Some of these risk factors, such as low birth weight, have been exacerbated by narrow breeding goals focussed on production traits such as increasing litter size. This chapter will concentrate on managerial and environmental interventions that attempt to reconcile the behavioural and physiological needs of both the sow and piglets to optimise their welfare whilst appreciating stockperson concerns with how best to implement them.

Alternatives to castration of pigs

Piglets have been traditionally been surgically castrated to avoid boar taint risk and aggression and mounting behaviour. However, castration without anaesthesia and analgesia induces pain and has become a controversial practice on welfare grounds. Therefore, alternatives to surgical pig castration that guarantee proper meat quality and welfare, are required if castration is to be abandoned. This chapter deals with the main alternatives which are commercially available at present: (1) Raising entire males and (2) Immunocastration. Sex sorting could be another possibility, if technological and implementation obstacles could be overcome. The chapter summarises the effects on welfare and meat quality of the available alternatives, as well as dealing with other aspects such as societal and farmers’ acceptance of those alternatives. The nutritional, management and breeding strategies, which are implemented when raising entire males to enhance welfare and meat quality are described. The methodologies being used or under development to assess boar taint risk on line or at line are presented. Further reading and future perspectives end the chapter.

Physiological and behavioral responses to disease in pigs

This chapter provides critical information on the physiological and behavioral responses common to pigs experiencing disease and describe animal-based outcomes directly impacted during a disease state. In addition, timely tools to prevent and monitor disease at the herd level are discussed and disease prevention techniques are described. Lastly, the chapter explores strategies for managing sick pigs as the critical next step when prevention is unsuccessful.

Welfare assessment of pigs

If the aim of a welfare assessment is to describe the welfare on-farm, not only here and now but for a longer time period, then the measures to be used have to be chosen with this in mind. It is by choosing relevant but common indicators that the assessment is representative of the farm over time. There are two types of animal welfare protocols, those that require the farms to comply with a set of criteria and those that attempt to assess the welfare of the animals on the farm. The advantage of the first approach is that it is transparent and easy to understand, the advantage of the second that it is more flexible and can give a better understanding of what is happening on the farm.