Tail-in-mouth Behaviour Among Weaner Pigs in Relation to Age, Gender and Group Composition Regarding Gender

Abstract

Male pigs are significantly more often found to be tail-bitten at slaughter than are females. Age is also thought to be a crucial factor in relation to the ontogeny of tail-biting among slaughter pigs. Tail-in-mouth behaviour (TIM) among young pigs is probably the precursor of the damaging tail-biting in older pigs. Hence, this experiment aimed to elucidate the frequency of TIM in relation to gender, age and group composition regarding gender in weaner pigs. Pigs were reared in groups of 24 until 5 weeks of age and then divided into three groups: (A) eight female pigs, (B) eight castrated male pigs and (C) four female and four castrated male pigs (mixed pen). Observations was performed through video-recording 12 h per day, 1 day per week, for 4 consecutive weeks. The number of TIM events (counts) as well as the identity of the performer and the receiver of TIM were recorded. The results showed that the level of TIM activity in the single-gender pens was significantly lower than in the mixed pen (P<0.05). In the mixed pen, TIM tended to be more directed towards the opposite gender and female pigs tended to perform more TIM than the males. Finally, the frequency of TIM increased significantly with age in all three pens (P<0.01).

Keywords:

• age
• gender
• pigs
• tail-biting
• tail-in-mouth behaviour
• weaner

Acknowledgments

We thank Hans Kier's Foundation and the Danish Society for Protection of Animals for financial support. Also thanks to the staff on the farm “Sjælland III” who skilfully took care of the animals.

Notes

^*Corresponding author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

D. L. Schrøder-petersen*

*Corresponding author.