The Effect of Straw, Rope, and Bite-Rite Treatment in Weaner Pens with a Tail Biting Outbreak

Young pigs can bite each other’s tails, which is a welfare problem. It begins suddenly and spreads like an “outbreak”. Pig farmers use various methods to prevent tail biting, but if prevention fails, a cure is needed, and there has been little scientific research into how best to stop an outbreak. In a study with 65 groups of young pigs, we tested three methods of stopping tail biting outbreaks which could be practical to use on commercial farms: (1) straw (small amount on the floor), (2) rope, and (3) Bite-Rite (a hanging plastic device with chewable rods). All provided some distraction, but straw stopped an increase in tail injuries more often (75%) than the Bite-Rite (35%), with rope intermediate (65%). Watching the pigs’ behaviour showed that they preferred to interact with rope than the Bite-Rite. We also saw that interacting with other pigs’ tails increased after a week with the Bite-Rite but not with rope or straw. Overall straw worked best, but future studies may find even more effective ways to stop tail biting outbreaks, once they begin