Tail Biting in Pigs

Tail biting in pigs is an abnormal behavior with multi-factorial origin, causing wounds, infections, partial or total losses of the tail, and even death in bitten pigs. Tail lesions, caused by “swine inflammation and necrosis syndrome (SINS),” are independent of tail biting. However, such lesions cause pre-damaged tails, resulting in secondary biting. Tail docking, one procedure to restrict tail biting, was banned by the EU Council Directive 2008/120/EC in December 2008, why it is important to automatically detect early warning signs of an upcoming outbreak by use of electronic devices. However, implementation of early warning systems is associated with high costs, stimulating genetic approaches. From a genetic perspective, the multi-factorial effects on tail biting suggest multi-factorial analyses considering breeding, husbandry, and feeding aspects simultaneously, addressing genotype x environment or more specifically genotype x feeding interactions. An indirect breeding approach is selection of pigs with short tails. Generally, due to the quite large direct heritability for tail length in pigs, the possibility of breeding pigs with shorter tails is a promising approach to reduce tail biting without stress, trauma, and pain, but implies small antagonistic effects on weight traits.