The Mutilation of Pigs
Pigs are adapted to the farm environment, instead of vice versa
Farmed pigs are subjected to several painful interventions. These are mostly carried out without anaesthesia and pain relief. Why? For more economic efficiency and thus cheaper meat.
Tail Docking
Castration without Anaesthisia
Slap Marking
Teeth Grinding, Teeth Clipping
Nose Ring
Ear Tagging
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Tail docking
- Purpose: To try to reduce effects of tail biting, which causes tail lesions, inflammations, and infections, along with a decrease in growth rate.
- Procedure: A hot electrical iron (a so-called docking iron) or a scalpel/knife is used to burn or cut off the distal end of the tail, without the use of anaesthesia and (sufficient) pain relief. The wound is not treated afterwards, and the stressful procedure creates several negative consequences, like acute and chronic pain, as well as the loss of option for natural expression of behaviour.1
- Information: Tail biting is a behavioural disorder in pigs that is triggered by intensive farming. If housing and living conditions would be adapted to the needs of the animals, there would be no need for tail docking. But the intelligent pigs are kept on fully slatted floors in a poorly structured and barren environment (without any material to root or manipulate, such as straw) in which they cannot express their natural behavioural needs. Under natural conditions, pigs spend 75% of their time with rooting, foraging and eating.2 These behaviours cannot be expressed in today’s pig keeping systems as digging and exploring is not possible. Therefore, the pigs suffer and redirect their behaviour into biting of other pigs' tails.
- Environmental enrichment with straw and other fibrous materials can reduce tail biting by encouraging normal foraging behaviour.3,4
- Alternative husbandry systems should be used because tail docking does not necessarily prevent tail biting.5
- Nutritional factors also play a role and appropriate feeding systems are necessary.
- FOUR PAWS demands:
A general ban on tail docking in all countries. Although the routine docking of curly tails has been prohibited throughout the EU since 1994, in most countries it is still carried out on most of the pig farms and tolerated by authorities. The ban must be effective without exceptions, as they do not work and only open the door for misuse. Appropriate conditions in pig farming do not require the amputation of body parts. Improving the living conditions (e.g. by providing more space, well-structured pens, enrichment, good air quality and by decreasing number of piglets per sow, etc.) would reduce, if not eradicate tail biting and fighting. Thereby, distressing and painful interventions like teeth clipping and tail docking would become unnecessary.
Castration without anaesthesia and pain relief (common practice in males)
- Purpose: To prevent the so-called 'boar taint' – urine odour and or faecal flavour of pork products when they are cooked, however, the prevalence of it is uncertain.6
- Procedure: The skin of the testicles is sliced open with a scalpel, the testicles are pressed out and cut off. Castration of piglets without anaesthesia or any other kind of pain relief causes acute and prolonged pain, inflammation/infection of wounds, as well as a lot of stress for the animals during the handling and by ignoring their physiological and ethological needs.7
- Information: Nowadays three options are available that make the suffering of piglets during castration unnecessary and are acceptable from an animal welfare point of view: boar fattening, vaccination against boar taint (immunocastration, which is not connected with painful surgical intervention) and castration by a vet with anaesthesia and multi-modal pain relief.
- FOUR PAWS demands:
The castration of (male) pigs must be carried out by a vet, with anaesthesia and multi-modal pain relief. Alternatives to castration should preferably be used like boar fattening or vaccination against boar taint (immunocastration).
Teeth grinding, teeth clipping
- Purpose: To prevent piglets from injuring each other or the udder of the sow during suckling.
- Procedure: The corner teeth are clipped (using pliers) or shortened (using an electric grinding machine) by the stockperson within the first days of life. It is often done routinely (all pigs of a litter, all litters). Even if there is no pain present during the procedure, as there are no nerves in the dental enamel, the handling causes immense stress to the piglets. But it happens that the teeth are cut too low or grind down too much, then it is very painful. Teeth clipping with side cutter also often results in inflammation and infection and is therefore forbidden in most European countries.8
- Information: When piglets are born, they establish a teat order – with stronger piglets trying to select the front teats that tend to produce more milk. While establishing and maintaining this order, excessive fights can happen, and the sharp and spiky teeth can quickly damage other piglets and cause lesions on their cheeks or even injure the sows' udder. This especially happens if there are too many piglets, or the sow hasn’t got enough milk for other reasons (mammary infection) – both is often the case as in industrial farming sows are bred to produce as many piglets as possible, even though it causes problems with underweight and competing piglets, trying to get enough milk to survive.
- FOUR PAWS demands:
A ban on teeth clipping in all countries. Careful smoothing down may be carried out in the case of injury to the piglets or sow. Improving the living conditions (e.g. by providing more space, well-structured pens, enrichment, good air quality and by decreasing number of piglets per sow, etc.) to avoid tail biting and fighting. Thereby, distressing and painful interventions like teeth clipping and tail docking would become unnecessary.
Ear tagging, ear notching, tattooing
- Purpose: Identification
- Procedure:
- Ear tagging: the ears are pierced to fix ear tags.
- Ear notching: pliers are used to remove a small piece of the pig's ears
- Tattooing: penetrating the pig’s skin with a sharp needled tool to insert ink under the skin.
- Information: All these methods are causing pain9 and are mostly done without anaesthesia and pain relief.
- FOUR PAWS demands:
A ban of painful and mutilating identification methods.
Slap marking
- Purpose: Identification and traceability (for the abattoir).
- Procedure: Before the pigs are slaughtered, they are slapped with a sharp needled tool on both sides of the body to produce a tattoo. The sharp needles are covered with ink and are penetrating the pig's skin deeply. It is done without anaesthesia and pain relief.
- FOUR PAWS demands:
A ban of painful and mutilating identification methods.
Nose ring
- Purpose: To prevent rooting in free-range farming
- Procedure: A metal ring is inserted in the upper part of the pig's snout using pliers, and without providing any kind of pain relief. The nose of a pig is a very sensitive body part – having more nerve ends than human fingertips, and therefore this causes acute and chronic pain which hinders natural behaviour.
- Information: Pigs have a high motivation to root as well as to eat10. But if pigs are lucky enough to be kept free range, they are often still not able to express their basic natural behaviour: to avoid damage on soil by breeding sows that are kept outdoor, a nose ring is inserted. A pig’s snout has 5,000 times more nerve ends than a human fingertip and the function for the pig is about the same. They use their nose for sensing feed and organisms in the soil as well as for facilitating social behaviour. Due to their famous olfactory sense, the nose is highly innervated, and therefore any inflammation or mutilation in this area comes with high discomfort and lifelong irritation. There are many non-invasive alternatives to this, such as reducing the stocking density on pasture, changing of pasture regularly, optimising feeding, limiting access to pasture, providing special areas for rooting and providing additional feed.
- FOUR PAWS demands:
A ban on nose rings. Rooting is a natural behaviour in pigs and should not be prevented by a painful nose ring but rather be supported.
FOUR PAWS demands regarding mutilations of pigs:
- A general ban on tail docking in all countries. Although the routine docking of curly tails has been prohibited throughout the EU since 1994, in most countries it is still carried out on most of the pig farms and tolerated by authorities. The ban must be effective without exceptions, as they do not work and only open the door for misuse. Appropriate conditions in pig farming do not require the amputation of body parts.
- The castration of (male) pigs must be carried out by a vet, with anaesthesia and multi-modal pain relief. Alternatives to castration should preferably be used like boar fattening or vaccination against boar taint (immunocastration).
- A ban on teeth clipping in all countries. Careful smoothing down may be carried out in the case of injury to the piglets or sow.
- A ban of painful and mutilating identification methods.
- A ban on nose rings. Rooting is a natural behaviour in pigs and should not be prevented by a painful nose ring but rather be supported.
- Improving the living conditions (e.g. by providing more space, well-structured pens, enrichment, good air quality and by decreasing number of piglets per sow, etc.) to avoid tail biting and fighting. Thereby, distressing and painful interventions like teeth clipping and tail docking would become unnecessary.
- It is essential to not only treat the symptoms, but to eliminate their causes – the husbandry system should be adapted to the animal, not the other way around!
Source
1. Sutherland MA, Tucker CB. The long and short of it: A review of tail docking in farm animals. Applied Animal Behaviour Science. 2011;135(3):179–191. doi:10.1016/j.applanim.2011.10.015
2. Stolba A, Wood-Gush DGM. The behaviour of pigs in a semi-natural environment. Animal Science. 1989;48(2):419–425. doi:10.1017/S0003356100040411
3. Weerd HAV de, Docking CM, Day JEL, Breuer K, Edwards SA. Effects of species-relevant environmental enrichment on the behaviour and productivity of finishing pigs. Applied Animal Behaviour Science. 2006;99(3):230–247. doi:10.1016/j.applanim.2005.10.014
4. Lahrmann HP, Hansen CF, D´Eath RB, Busch ME, Nielsen JP, Forkman B. Early intervention with enrichment can prevent tail biting outbreaks in weaner pigs. Livestock Science. 2018;214:272–277. doi:10/gd9wwg
5. Nannoni E, Valsami T, Sardi L, Martelli G. Tail Docking in Pigs: A Review on its Short- And Long-Term Consequences and Effectiveness in Preventing Tail Biting. Italian Journal of Animal Science. 2014;13(1):3095. doi:10.4081/ijas.2014.3095
6. Walstra P, Claudi-Magnussen C, Chevillon P, von Seth G, Diestre A, Matthews KR, Homer DB, Bonneau M. An international study on the importance of androstenone and skatole for boar taint: levels of androstenone and skatole by country and season. Livestock Production Science. 1999;62(1):15–28. doi:10.1016/S0301-6226(99)00054-8
7. Rault J-L, Lay DC, Marchant JN. Castration induced pain in pigs and other livestock. Applied Animal Behaviour Science. 2011;135(3):214–225. (Special Issue: Pain in Farm Animals). doi:10.1016/j.applanim.2011.10.017
8. Anna R. L. S. Behavioural and physiological consequences of tooth resection in commercial piglets: implications for welfare. 2022 Jun 30 [accessed 2023 Jan 10]. https://era.ed.ac.uk/handle/1842/39259. doi:10.7488/era/2510
9. Steagall PV, Bustamante H, Johnson CB, Turner PV. Pain management in farm animals: focus on cattle, sheep and pigs. Animals : an Open Access Journal from MDPI. 2021;11(6):1483. doi:10.3390/ani11061483
10. Stäbler R, Patzkéwitsch D, Reese S, Erhard M, Hartmannsgruber S. Behavior of domestic pigs under near-natural forest conditions with ad libitum supplementary feeding. Journal of Veterinary Behavior. 2022;48:20–35. doi:10.1016/j.jveb.2021.10.011
2. Stolba A, Wood-Gush DGM. The behaviour of pigs in a semi-natural environment. Animal Science. 1989;48(2):419–425. doi:10.1017/S0003356100040411
3. Weerd HAV de, Docking CM, Day JEL, Breuer K, Edwards SA. Effects of species-relevant environmental enrichment on the behaviour and productivity of finishing pigs. Applied Animal Behaviour Science. 2006;99(3):230–247. doi:10.1016/j.applanim.2005.10.014
4. Lahrmann HP, Hansen CF, D´Eath RB, Busch ME, Nielsen JP, Forkman B. Early intervention with enrichment can prevent tail biting outbreaks in weaner pigs. Livestock Science. 2018;214:272–277. doi:10/gd9wwg
5. Nannoni E, Valsami T, Sardi L, Martelli G. Tail Docking in Pigs: A Review on its Short- And Long-Term Consequences and Effectiveness in Preventing Tail Biting. Italian Journal of Animal Science. 2014;13(1):3095. doi:10.4081/ijas.2014.3095
6. Walstra P, Claudi-Magnussen C, Chevillon P, von Seth G, Diestre A, Matthews KR, Homer DB, Bonneau M. An international study on the importance of androstenone and skatole for boar taint: levels of androstenone and skatole by country and season. Livestock Production Science. 1999;62(1):15–28. doi:10.1016/S0301-6226(99)00054-8
7. Rault J-L, Lay DC, Marchant JN. Castration induced pain in pigs and other livestock. Applied Animal Behaviour Science. 2011;135(3):214–225. (Special Issue: Pain in Farm Animals). doi:10.1016/j.applanim.2011.10.017
8. Anna R. L. S. Behavioural and physiological consequences of tooth resection in commercial piglets: implications for welfare. 2022 Jun 30 [accessed 2023 Jan 10]. https://era.ed.ac.uk/handle/1842/39259. doi:10.7488/era/2510
9. Steagall PV, Bustamante H, Johnson CB, Turner PV. Pain management in farm animals: focus on cattle, sheep and pigs. Animals : an Open Access Journal from MDPI. 2021;11(6):1483. doi:10.3390/ani11061483
10. Stäbler R, Patzkéwitsch D, Reese S, Erhard M, Hartmannsgruber S. Behavior of domestic pigs under near-natural forest conditions with ad libitum supplementary feeding. Journal of Veterinary Behavior. 2022;48:20–35. doi:10.1016/j.jveb.2021.10.011