Tail docking of piglets is a routine procedure on farms to control tail-biting behaviour; however, docking can cause an acute stress response. The objectives of this research were to determine the stress responses to tail docking in piglets and to compare two methods of tail docking; cautery iron (CAUT) and the more commonly used blunt trauma cutters (BT). At approximately 6 days of age, piglets were tail docked using CAUT (n 5 20), BT (n 5 20) or sham tail docked with their tails remaining intact (CON; n 5 40). Blood samples were taken prior to tail docking and at 30, 60 and 90 min after tail docking to evaluate the effect of tail docking on white blood cell (WBC) measures and cortisol concentrations. The above experiment was repeated to observe behaviour without the periodic blood sampling, so as not to confound the effects of blood sampling on piglet behaviour. Piglet behaviour was recorded in the farrowing crate using 1 min scan-samples via live observations for 60 min prior to and 90 min after tail docking. Total WBC counts were reduced (P . 0.05) among BT and CAUT compared with CON piglets 30 min after tail docking. Cortisol concentrations were higher (P , 0.01) among BT compared with CON and CAUT piglets 60 min after tail docking. Cautery and BT-docked piglets spent more (P , 0.05) time posterior scooting compared with CON piglets between 0 and 15 min, and 31 and 45 min after tail docking. Piglets tail docked using CAUT and BT tended to spend more (P , 0.07) time sitting than CON piglets between 0 and 15 min post tail docking. Elevated blood cortisol can be reduced by the use of the CAUT rather than the BT method of tail docking. Although the tail docking-induced rise in cortisol was prevented by using CAUT, the behavioural response to BT and CAUT docking methods was similar.

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Assimilating accurate behavioral events over a long period can be labor-intensive and relatively expensive. If an automatic device could accurately record the duration and frequency for a given behavioral event, it would be a valuable alternative to the traditional use of human observers for behavioral studies. Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine the accuracy in the time spent at the waterer and the number of visits to the waterer by individually housed nursery pigs between human observers scoring video files using Observer software (OBS) and an automatic water meter Hobo (WM, control) affixed onto the waterline. Eleven PIC USA genotype gilts (22 ± 2 d of age; 6.5 ± 1.4 kg of BW) were housed individually in pens with ad libitum access to a corn-based starter ration and one nipple waterer. Behavior was collected on d 0 (day of weaning), 7, and 14 of the trial using 1 color camera positioned over 4 attached pens and a RECO-204 DVR at 1 frame per second. For the OBS method, 2 experienced observers recorded drinking behavior from the video files, which was defined as when the gilt placed her mouth over the nipple waterer. Data were analyzed using nonparametric methods and the general linear model and regression procedures in SAS. The experimental unit was the individual pen housing 1 gilt. The GLM model included the method of observation (WM vs. OBS) and time (24 h) as variables, and the gilt nested within method was used as the error term. Gilts consumed more water (P = 0.04) on d 14 than on d 0. The time of day affected (P < 0.001) the number of visits and the time spent at the waterer regardless of the method. However, the OBS method underestimated (P < 0.001) the number of visits to the waterer (3.48 ± 0.33 visits/h for OBS vs. 4.94 ± 0.33 for WM) and overestimated (P < 0.001) the time spent at the waterer (22.6 ± 1.46 s/h for OBS vs. 13.9 ± 1.43 for WM) compared with WM. The relationship between the 2 methods for prediction of time spent at the waterer and number of visits made by the gilts was weak (R 2 = 0.56 and 0.69, respectively). Collectively, these data indicate that the use of the traditional OBS method for quantifying drinking behavior in pigs can be misleading. Quantifying drinking behavior and perhaps other behavioral events via the OBS method must be more accurately validated. RightsWorks produced by employees of the U.S. Government as part of their official duties are not copyrighted within the U.S. The content of this document is not copyrighted. ABSTRACT: Assimilating accurate behavioral events over a long period can be labor-intensive and relatively expensive. If an automatic device could accurately record the duration and frequency for a given behavioral event, it would be a valuable alternative to the traditional use of human observers for behavioral studies. Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine the accuracy in the time spent at the waterer and the number of visits to the waterer by individually housed nursery pigs between human observers scoring...

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