The Effect of Straw, Rope, and Bite-Rite Treatment in Weaner Pens with a Tail Biting Outbreak

• Main Authors: Helle Pelant Lahrmann, Julie Fabricius Faustrup, Christian Fink Hansen, Rick B. D’Eath, Jens Peter Nielsen, Björn Forkman
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2019-06-01
• Series: Animals
• Subjects: pigs; swine; weaners; behaviour; tail injury; tail biting outbreak; enrichment material; straw; rope; Bite-Rite
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/9/6/365

Tail biting in pigs is an injurious behaviour that spreads rapidly in a group. We investigated three different treatments to stop ongoing tail biting outbreaks in 65 pens of 6&#8722;30 kg undocked pigs (30 pigs per pen; SD = 2): (1) straw (7 g/pig/day on the floor), (2) rope, and (3) Bite-Rite (a hanging plastic device with chewable rods). Pigs were tail scored three times weekly, until an outbreak occurred (four pigs with a tail wound; day 0) and subsequently once weekly. After an outbreak had occurred, a subsequent escalation in tail damage was defined if four pigs with a fresh tail wound were identified or if a biter had to be removed. Straw prevented an escalation better (75%) than Bite-Rite (35%; <i>p</i> &lt; 0.05), and rope was intermediate (65%). Upon introduction of treatments (day 0), pigs interacted less with tails than before (day &#8722;1; <i>p</i> &lt; 0.05). Behavioural observations showed that pigs engaged more with rope than Bite-Rite (<i>p</i> &lt; 0.05). Bite-Rite pigs (but not straw or rope) increased their interaction with tails between day 0 and day 7 (<i>p</i> &lt; 0.05). Straw was the most effective treatment. However, further investigations may identify materials or allocation strategies which are more effective still.