The prevalence of tail damage in slaughter pigs in Finland and associations to carcass condemnations

Abstract

Tail biting is a serious and common welfare problem in modern pig production. The aims of this study were to evaluate the prevalence of tail damage in Finland and to study relationships between tail damage and carcass condemnations. Information on a total of 10,852 pigs from 479 farms was collected at a Finnish abattoir. The prevalence of total tail damage was 34.6%, but the majority of this was healed tail damage. The prevalence of fresh versus severe tail biting was 11.7% and 1.3%, respectively. All forms of tail damage caused an increased risk of carcass condemnation, especially due to abscesses (RR: 4.9 for all tail damage). Severe tail biting caused a highly increased risk for condemnation (RR: 5.2 for condemnations in general, RR: 17.6 for condemnations due to abscesses). Of carcasses with severely bitten tails, 26.8% were partly or fully condemned. Between-farm variation in prevalence of tail damage was large, stressing the importance of on-farm factors. Tail biting appears to be a common problem in Finland and measures should be taken to improve the situation. Tail damage, in all its forms, needs to be taken seriously, as it has, in addition to causing lowered welfare to the animals, large economic implications for production.