Enrichment meeting: Stop tail biting by improving pig comfort

Tuesday 20 April 2010

THE Lancashire Pig Discussion Group held a meeting on tail biting and enrichment this month.

In what was the group's first meeting to be jointly supported by BPEX and Myerscough College through the Livestock Programme, a good level of attendance saw 10 farmers keen to expand their knowledge and understanding of tail biting and the various methods of enrichment that can be used to help prevent the incidence of this carcass-affecting vice.

Held at Preston Grasshoppers RUFC in Preston, where the group meets on a regularly basis between the months of September and April, the meeting opened with a quiz by Angela Cliff of BPEX to test everyone’s current knowledge of the ideal environment in which pigs should be kept.

John Chambers, independent consultant to the pig industry, then spoke to the group in detail about the various factors which can lead to tail biting. He emphasised the point that tail biting can occur for a wide variety of reasons, such as inadequate ventilation, imbalanced nutrition and boredom, and that the cause may not be obviously apparent.

John then went on to describe the methods which may be employed on farms to counteract the problem, with a detailed look at the measures which can be put in place to optimise pig comfort, these included:

Thermal comfort – ensuring there are no draughts and that ventilation is adequate to reduce variations in temperature.
Food and water – to be freely available and ensure adequate space for all pigs to feed.
Appropriate diet – to ensure all the nutritional needs of the pigs are met.
Stocking density – adequate space to be made available for the pigs as determined by the size of the pigs and nature of the accommodation.

This generated a great deal of discussion among the farmers about the problems they have experienced on their own farms and how they have dealt with them.

This was followed by a further presentation by Angela Cliff on the various products available for enrichment of the pigs’ environment. These range from adding novelty foods such as grass, salt licks and vegetables, to simple objects like paper bags and chains with alkathene piping that the pigs can play with. Angela also brought to the attention of the group the new standards for environmental enrichment tools that have been brought in under the Red Tractor Assurance Scheme, which include:

Chains alone are not acceptable
Tyres are not acceptable as some may contain wire
Objects must be shown to be of interest to the pigs
Objects must be within the pigs’ reach

BPEX have issued the following guidelines which may be used when deciding on the most effective enrichment objects for pigs:

Safe – Sanitary – Suspended – Soft – Simple - Site

Robert Burrow from Myerscough College then told the group about the RDPE Northwest Livestock Programme and the opportunities available to all livestock farmers in the area to secure performance grants for their businesses.

>> CLICK HERE for a link to BPEX'S introductory guide on new assurance standards and manipulable materials

Tail Biting Research

RECENTLY completed research by the universities of Bristol and Newcastle, and funded by BPEX and the RSPCA, was designed to identify risks associated with tail biting and to apply this knowledge with the aim of preventing and reducing tail biting. Risks were identified both from literature and a workshop of invited experts and were formatted into a questionnaire which was used as the basis of a Husbandry Advisory Tool (HAT).

Sixty five units were recruited for the project, each receiving between two and four visits between 2007 and 2009. Full details can be found by clicking here, and a brief summary is shown below.

Factors strongly associated with higher likelihood of tail biting within a pen were:

Draughts in the lying area
Variation in tail length ie a mixture of long and docked tails, or range of docked tail lengths within the group
Season (late winter/early spring) and air frost
Enrichment objects being fouled, at floor level or with poor accessibility (guidance notes on enrichment and manipulable materials, based on good practice seen during the study
Pigs being moved from straw to non-straw systems
Fouled drinkers (only 4% of pens, but highly significant association); this may indicate general management standard rather than a direct cause

Factors strongly associated with lower likelihood of tail biting within a pen:

Presence of straw and being housed on straw throughout
Being vaccinated against PCV2

Results from the HAT are being used to refine the original risk scores in order to help prioritise preventive measures on different units. Similar findings are being analysed for weaner systems. A final ‘calculator’ of tail biting risks will be made available online via Bristol University during 2010. >> Visit the BPEX website for more