Evaluation of tail biting in pigs at the abattoir

• Autor(a) principal: Gomes, Alice Teresa Carneiro
• Data de Publicação: 2022
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10348/11176
• topic: abattoir; animal welfare

Tail biting has been recognised as an emerging problem in pig production. In Europe, tail docking is regularly performed on conventional swine farms to decrease the prevalence of tail damage. However, this procedure should be applied only as last resource, being imperative to consider its negative impact on animal welfare. During meat inspection, tail assessment can be challenging and lead to an underestimation of tail biting prevalence. This study aimed to evaluate tail biting occurrence in slaughtered pigs, analyse the association of tail lesions with production system and tail length, explore the relationship between post mortem findings, carcass condemnations and tail damage and assess the importance of creating a more detailed tail score classification that includes scarred lesions. Information on a total of 9189 pigs from 73 batches with different tail lengths (undocked, docked mid-length, fully docked) and from distinct production systems (conventional, conventional without the administration of antimicrobials and organic) was collected at a Spanish abattoir. The probability of observing tail lesions varied with length (p=0.0001), with undocked pigs having higher odds of showing severe lesions when compared to the other two production systems (OR=3.11, OR=2.10). No significant differences were observed between docked at mid-length or fully docked carcasses regarding the occurrence of tail lesions. Batches with higher lesions scores presented a greater chance of total condemnation (p=0.014, OR = 1.81), being even more associated with scarred lesions (p=0.0002, OR=3.24). Pyemia was influenced by tail lesions (p=0.013, OR=2.06) and presented an even stronger relationship with scarring scores (p=0.0002, OR=3.86). The within-batches probability for local condemnations (all p surveillance program. There is the need to upgrade the current lesion scoring method to help pinpoint carcasses at risk for condemnations, working as a potential welfare indicator. This study also indicates that if tail docking is performed, it can be beneficial to resect a smaller proportion of the tail as an alternative to a shorter resection.