The dilemma of tail docking

Do we have to dock the tails of the pigs or do we have to leave them intact? That’s the big question.

First of all, I have to explain to you why we sometimes dock the tail of the pigs. We very often see pigs bite each other’s tails. The pigs conduct the behaviour of tail biting because they are frustrated. This frustration comes from a lack of opportunities to perform natural behaviour such as searching for food, etc. After many studies, we can say that the piggeries of today do not meet the needs of the pigs regarding natural behaviour.

There are a lot of cons of tail biting. The most important reason for the farmers is that the pigs weigh less when they sell them. The pigs also need a few extra days to reach this weigh. As we know, the profit margin that the farmers receive per pig is very low, so every day and every kilo of meat counts. The pigs also have stress and pain when another pig bites his tail.

To avoid tail biting, we can dock the tail but this treatment also has some pros and cons. We see that the pigs have stress and pain for a long time after docking their tails. We also noticed through a study that the prevalence of tail damage by tail biting after docking is lower but not zero per cent. So the treatment doesn’t prevent all the injuries. For these reasons, the majority of us believe that docking should be prohibited. On the other hand, the farmers think tail docking is a good method because the method allows them to earn more money.

With the growing animal welfare awareness and the fear of the farmers for their future, I think the discussion on this topic is far from over and we’ll hear a lot about the discussion.