Reducing estimated tail biting risk in German weaner pigs using a management tool

Grümpel, Angelika; Krieter, Joachim; Dippel, Sabine

doi:10.1016/j.tvjl.2019.105406

Cited by 6 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…As noted earlier, epidemiological and on-farm studies have indicated a link between reduced health, especially respiratory, enteric and locomotory symptoms, and tail biting. The underlying mechanism whereby decreased health might be a risk factor for tail biting lesions is uncertain, but suggestions have included sickness-induced changes in cytokines and neurotransmission ( 84 , 85 ) or involvement of the brain-gut-microbiota axis ( 86 , 87 ). Colostrum intake, postnatal environmental hygiene, and antimicrobial treatments all affect the development of gut microbiota, immunity and subsequent health, and can thus be important for behavioral development ( 54 , 86 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The underlying mechanism whereby decreased health might be a risk factor for tail biting lesions is uncertain, but suggestions have included sickness-induced changes in cytokines and neurotransmission ( 84 , 85 ) or involvement of the brain-gut-microbiota axis ( 86 , 87 ). Colostrum intake, postnatal environmental hygiene, and antimicrobial treatments all affect the development of gut microbiota, immunity and subsequent health, and can thus be important for behavioral development ( 54 , 86 ). Further research on the interactions of pig health in general and tail biting would be warranted, including the synergies of overall health management in reducing the costs of tail biting and other disorders.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The better the measures can be targeted to the pigs and pens at risk of tail biting lesions, the more profitable the measures can be. The application of Decision Support Tools focused on the individual farm situation can therefore be a key part of any strategy [e.g., ( 86 , 88 )]. Because of the multifactorial nature of the tail biting problem, straw-provision, or any other intervention, may not be able to adequately control tail biting on its own if other risk factors are ignored.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Seven Measures to Reduce Tail Biting Lesions in Fattening Pigs

et al. 2021

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Tail biting is an important animal welfare issue in the pig sector. Studies have identified various risk factors which can lead to biting incidents and proposed mitigation measures. This study focused on the following seven key measures which have been identified to affect the risk of tail biting lesions: improvements in straw provision, housing ventilation, genetics, stocking density, herd health, provision of point-source enrichment objects, and adoption of early warning systems. The aim of this study was to examine whether these selected measures to reduce the risk of tail biting lesions in pig fattening are cost-effective. The problem was analyzed by first summarizing the most prospective interventions, their costs and expected impacts on the prevalence of tail biting lesions, second, by using a stochastic bio-economic model to simulate the financial return per pig space unit and per pig at different levels of prevalence of tail biting lesions, and third by looking at how large a reduction in tail biting lesions would be needed at different levels of initial prevalence of lesions to cover the costs of interventions. Tail biting lesions of a severity which would require an action (medication, hospitalization of the pig or other care, or taking preventive measures) by the pig producer were considered in the model. The results provide guidance on the expected benefits and costs of the studied interventions. According to the results, if the average prevalence of tail biting lesions is at a level of 10%, the costs of this damaging behavior can be as high as €2.3 per slaughtered pig (~1.6% of carcass value). Measures which were considered the least expensive to apply, such as provision of point-source enrichment objects, or provided wider production benefits, such as improvements in ventilation and herd health, became profitable at a lower level of efficacy than measures which were considered the most expensive to apply (e.g., straw provision, increased space allowance, automated early warning systems). Measures which were considered most efficient in reducing the risk of tail biting lesions, such as straw provision, can be cost-effective in preventing tail biting, especially when the risk of tail biting is high. At lower risk levels, the provision of point-source objects and other less costly but relatively effective measures can play an important role. However, selection of measures appropriate to the individual farm problem is essential. For instance, if poor health or barren pens are causing the elevated risk of tail biting lesions, then improving health management or enriching the pens may resolve the tail biting problem cost-effectively.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Seven Measures to Reduce Tail Biting Lesions in Fattening Pigs

et al. 2021

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“…Besides its negative impact on animal welfare, damaging behaviour also has a negative impact on economic and environmental sustainability of animal production. Genetic improvement of resilience and breeding of animals less prone to damaging behaviour promises a more sustainable solution compared with management changes [ 1 , 13 , 14 ], particularly when looking at the limited success of management interventions to mitigate the problem of tail biting [ 15 , 16 ]. However, due to the episodic nature and dynamics of tail biting, it is difficult to collect direct records of use for breeding [ 13 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Omics Application in Animal Science—A Special Emphasis on Stress Response and Damaging Behaviour in Pigs

Kasper

Ribeiro

Almeida

et al. 2020

Genes

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Increasing stress resilience of livestock is important for ethical and profitable meat and dairy production. Susceptibility to stress can entail damaging behaviours, a common problem in pig production. Breeding animals with increased stress resilience is difficult for various reasons. First, studies on neuroendocrine and behavioural stress responses in farm animals are scarce, as it is difficult to record adequate phenotypes under field conditions. Second, damaging behaviours and stress susceptibility are complex traits, and their biology is not yet well understood. Dissecting complex traits into biologically better defined, heritable and easily measurable proxy traits and developing biomarkers will facilitate recording these traits in large numbers. High-throughput molecular technologies (“omics”) study the entirety of molecules and their interactions in a single analysis step. They can help to decipher the contributions of different physiological systems and identify candidate molecules that are representative of different physiological pathways. Here, we provide a general overview of different omics approaches and we give examples of how these techniques could be applied to discover biomarkers. We discuss the genetic dissection of the stress response by different omics techniques and we provide examples and outline potential applications of omics tools to understand and prevent outbreaks of damaging behaviours.

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“…In Sweden and Finland, where tail docking has been banned, a combination of lower stocking densities, sufficient feeding space, no fully slatted floors, controlled levels of noxious gases and manipulable litter material has resulted in tail biting amongst undocked pigs being much less of a problem than in the rest of the European Union (Valros et al, 2016;Wallgren et al, 2019b). However, in many parts of the world, such standards have not been adopted in full and, despite attempts to provide some elements such as an enriched environment with objects and substrates designed to interest the pigs, tail-biting remain a major welfare and commercial problem (Gruempel et al, 2019;Nalon and DeBriyne, 2019;Hoy et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Movement change detected by optical flow precedes, but does not predict, tail-biting in pigs

et al. 2020

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Videos of pigs were analysed using an optical flow algorithm to measure group movement in the four days leading up to and including an outbreak of tail-biting. 8 pens in which tail-biting occurred (Outbreak) were retrospectively matched with 8 similar pens in which no tail-biting occurred over the lifetime of the pigs (NoOutbreak) and videos analysed for the same four days. Results showed an increase in movement over the four days in both groups and no difference between Outbreak pens and their matched NoOutbreak pens. On the contrary, Outbreak and NoOutbreak matched pens showed similar changes in behaviour, suggesting that the pigs were influencing each other or responding to common external circumstances. Such a tendency to "match" the behaviour of pigs in neighbouring pens makes it difficult to identify which pens will show tail biting.

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Reducing estimated tail biting risk in German weaner pigs using a management tool

Cited by 6 publications

References 20 publications

Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Seven Measures to Reduce Tail Biting Lesions in Fattening Pigs

Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Seven Measures to Reduce Tail Biting Lesions in Fattening Pigs

Omics Application in Animal Science—A Special Emphasis on Stress Response and Damaging Behaviour in Pigs

Movement change detected by optical flow precedes, but does not predict, tail-biting in pigs

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