Standardising the assessment of environmental enrichment and tail-docking legal requirements for finishing pigs in Europe

An online training package providing a concise synthesis of the scientific data underpinning EU legislation on enrichment and taildockingof pigs was produced in seven languages, with the aim of improving consistency of professional judgements regarding legislationcompliance on farms. In total, 158 participants who were official inspectors, certification scheme assessors and advisors from16 EU countries completed an initial test and an online training package. Control group participants completed a second identicaltest before, and Training group participants after, viewing the training. In Section 1 of the test participants rated the importance ofmodifying environmental enrichment defined in nine scenarios from 1 (not important) to 10 (very important). Training significantlyincreased participants’ overall perception of the need for change. Participants then rated nine risk factors for tail-biting from 1 (norisk) to 10 (high risk). After training scores were better correlated with risk rankings already described by scientists. Scenarios relatingto tail-docking and management were then described. Training significantly increased the proportion of respondents correctly identifyingthat a farm without tail lesions should stop tail-docking. Finally, participants rated the importance of modifying enrichment inthree further scenarios. Training increased ratings in all three. The pattern of results indicated that participants’ roles influenced scoresbut overall the training improved: i) recognition of enrichments that, by virtue of their type or use by pigs, may be insufficient to achievelegislation compliance; ii) knowledge on risk factors for tail-biting; and iii) recognition of when routine tail-docking was occurring