Tail biting and other vices

What you see and what you fail to see – the iceberg effect!

When an individual or a group of pigs present with a vice, the health team needs to investigate immediately the issues underlying the obvious clinical sign which has surfaced. The cause of a vice incident can be compared to an iceberg – where what you don’t see is a lot more serious than what you do see!

What clinical signs indicate that a vice is present?

Facial necrosis, ear biting, ear sucking, penile suckling, urine drinking, tail biting, flank and leg biting, vulval biting and building chewing.

The iceberg effect of different “stress” factors

If you recognise any of these factors on your farm- they need to be eliminated.

This can also be illustrated in text

And then the final straw – a thunderstorm! The causes of vice can be very complex. A useful summary can be: Review: Pig Flow, Water, Food, Floor, Air, Stock and the Stockpeople when investigating the causes of a vice incident

What can we do for the group and how to stop the problem?

• Learn the early signs of distress. in the group. A distressed pig may hand its tail. Distressed pigs can show either signs of submission or increased aggression, but often have an increase in marks and scratches on their bodies.
• Find the offending pig, tag and remove it (them) from the group. This can be difficult. The offending pig quite often is a smaller, slab sided pig with diarrhoea.
• Tag and remove the injured pigs to an enriched hospital pen environment with straw bedding. 20g of straw per pig per day minimum.
• Review the environment of the other pigs on the farm, especially the pig's in the next batch. Look for aberrant drinking a feeding patterns, especially during the night when the pigs are supposed to be asleep. If there are pigs drinking all night, it indicates that the water supply is inadequate.
• Eliminate draughts and chilling. Check that the pigs are comfortable, examine where the pigs are defecating and sleeping. Are these areas appropriate and where you expect?
• Consider raising the salt (NaCl) concentration to 0.9% in the feed. Discuss this with your nutritionist and veterinarian. Note, if you raise the salt level in the feed ensure that the water supply is not an aggravating factor in the tail biting or you can make the situation worse! Consider raising the tryptothan concentration in the feed.
• Provide toys and distractions to the pigs, but note ones which may interfere with feed and water supplies.
• Review the lighting patterns, in particular, the light intensities and duration. Too much light can be a problem. Pigs need to sleep at “night”.

Discuss with the slaughterhouse the fact that a few pigs will be arriving which have had evidence of vice. Slaughterhouses and meat inspectors particularly appreciate this assistance as the incidence of pulmonary abscesses and pleurisy can be increased in pigs with vice and if these enter the slaughterhouse unannounced, can cause havoc and line delays.