Tail biting can be a serious problem when pigs are raised inside. The industrial farming response to this issue is docking tails. A more humane approach is to change the behaviour of the pigs. After all, tail biting is not common in pigs raised outside with opportunities to forage and play.
“Environmental enrichment” can reduce the incidences of tail biting in confined pigs by reducing boredom and giving pigs other outlets for their chewing behaviour. With pigs, it seems that chewing is not just related to eating, but is also a way to explore their surroundings.
A simple form of enrichment is providing pigs with straw bedding, which allows the animals to root. However, many pork producers don’t like using straw bedding. Buijs and Mun (2019) state that, “there are many alternatives to straw, however, some of which pigs actually prefer over straw (peat, compost, sand, sawdust, wood shavings, branches, bark, beets and silage).”
Other farmers want to adopt more measures to improve the lives of their pigs and have created various toys for their pigs. Machado et al (2017) shows pictures from a Brazilian farm with spinning structures of suspended 10 L water bottles that were empty except for a bit of popcorn. By spinning and manipulating the bottles, the pigs could get treats from the holes that were drilled into the sides of the water bottles.
Buijs and Mun (2019) found that there are many ways to keep pigs entertained and less likely to bite each other’s tails. For example, farmers can provide the pigs with burlap or hessian sacks attached to the wall or hanging from the ceiling. Thick rope also keeps pigs busy chewing. Various other toys could help reduce tail biting but are most effective when the toys are changed weekly. Toys, like plastic balls, can be put into the pen, whereas others, including ropes, can be suspended just above the heads of the pigs. Environmental enrichment is most effective at minimizing the incidence of tail biting when it is introduced before the behaviour has started.
Sources: Buijs, Stephanie and Ramon Muns. 2019. A Review of the Effects of Non-Straw Enrichment on Tail Biting in Pigs. Animals (Basel). Oct 18. Volume 9. Number 10. 23pp. Machado, Simone Pereira, Fabiana Ribeiro Caldara, Luciana Foppa et al. 2017. Behavior of Pigs Reared in Enriched Environment: Alternatives to Extend Pigs Attention. PLoS ONE, Volume 12. Number 1: e0168427. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0168427