Multi-Step Tail Biting Outbreak Intervention Protocols for Pigs Housed on Slatted Floors

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Tail biting is an unpredictable and costly damaging behaviour among pigs that causes painful injuries. A major concern of the industry is how to control tail biting outbreaks when they occur. We aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of three different interventions to overcome tail biting outbreaks: removing biter, removing victim, or providing three ropes; deployed in random order. If the first intervention failed, a second was used, and then a third if that also failed. Data were collected from two studies in which a total of 1248 pigs (96 pens) were housed on fully-slatted floors. Forty tail biting outbreaks were recorded, of which twenty were resolved using only one intervention. Eighty percent of all outbreaks were controlled within three intervention steps. Adding ropes was the fastest way to stop an outbreak but did not stop more than the other strategies; success depended more on the proportion of tail biting pigs in the pen than the intervention used. Removed victims and biters were successfully reintroduced back to the original group, following set rules. This is crucial to reduce the need for space and renders the interventions applicable on commercial farms. It is promising that most outbreaks were overcome using these cost-effective measures. ABSTRACT: Solutions are needed to keep pigs under commercial conditions without tail biting outbreaks (TBOs). However, as TBOs are inevitable, even in well managed farms, it is crucial to know how to manage TBOs when they occur. We evaluated the effectiveness of multi-step intervention protocols to control TBOs. Across 96 pens (1248 undocked pigs) managed on fully-slatted floors, 40 TBOs were recorded (≥3 out of 12–14 pigs with fresh tail wounds). When an outbreak was identified, either the biters or the victims were removed, or enrichment (three ropes) was added. If the intervention failed, another intervention was randomly used until all three interventions had been deployed once. Fifty percent of TBOs were controlled after one intervention, 30% after 2–3 interventions, and 20% remained uncontrolled. A high proportion of biters/victims per pen reduced intervention success more so than the type of intervention. When only one intervention was used, adding ropes was the fastest method to overcome TBOs. Removed biters and victims were successfully reintroduced within 14 days back to their home pens. In conclusion, 80% of TBOs were successfully controlled within 18.4 ± 1.7 days on average using one or multiple cost-effective intervention strategies.