Solution approaches in accordance with animal welfare for use in practice in order to escape from tail docking step by step

Most of the piglets get their tails docked during the first days of living in order to prevent or at least minimize the occurrence of tail biting in pigs. This routine practice of docking is not in accordance with the provisions of the EU and the German Animal Protection Act. Furthermore, the underlying causes of tail injuries are not eliminated by docking the tails. If tail biting occurs, an animal welfare problem will often result, combined with economical disadvantages for the pig farmer. Consequently solutions are needed in order to abdicate the routine tail docking of piglets quickly. In the present study potential reasons of tail biting of pigs should be narrowed and solutions in accordance with animal welfare should be invented for use in practice in order to escape from tail docking step by step. On the basis of the present study it gets obvious that even though possible preventative measures are used, the occurrence of tail biting of pigs can never be fully eliminated. Therefore an intensive and aware observation of the pigs by the farmer seems to be necessary to recognize an incipient occurrence of tail biting and to act appropriate. It remains to be said that keeping undocked pigs represents a challenging task, nevertheless a step-by-step abdication of the routine docking of the pig tails seems possible