A survey of straw use and tail biting in Swedish pig farms rearing undocked pigs

Table 2 Suspected causes for tail biting in Swedish pig farms, reported by farmers

	Nursery units n = 23		Finishing pig units n = 38
	During the last outbreak	Overall on the farm	During the last outbreak	Overall on the farm
Coincidence	8	5	1	0
Do not know	5	3	11	10
Feed composition/feed equipment	0	0	12	15
Genetics/nervous pigs	4	2	8	7
Insufficient feeding space	0	0	0	5
Insufficient ventilation/high temperature	0	0	4	7
Lack of occupation	1	1	0	0
Salt deficiency	0	7	0	0
Stable/climate	0	1	0	0
Stocking density/overcrowding	6	6	2	5

n is number of farmers answering the question
Coincidence: e.g. a pig escaping into the wrong pen
Only farmers that had observed tail biting on their farm (23 nursery farmers and 38 finishing pig farmers) answered the questions about causes for tail biting outbreaks. Each farmer could give several causes for tail biting outbreaks, which is why the number of causes could exceed the number of respondents

ISSN: 1751-0147