A routine of constituent to farming , from the outside , can seem pretty unknown . And mayhap they are . But mostly speak , farmers continue to do things because those thing work .
Yet a growing universe of small and hobby farmer , inform by resources that challenge the feeling of “ Do it this agency because that ’s how it ’s done , ” are essay foreign practices and require , “ Is that really necessary ? ”
What am I speak about ? In this clause , I show specifically to dockage , or clipping off , the tail of a piglet .
If you were n’t aware this happen … well it does , but it ’s barely an routine of thoughtless cruelty or an artistic pick mean to make a more attractive posterior view . There are reasons husbandman snip the backside off their babe piggy , just as there are reasons many James Leonard Farmer choose not to dock tails .
Why Trim Piglets Tails?
First , why would anyone cut the bottle screw tail , such an iconic trait of porcine farm animal , from a little piggy ? The answer , in short , is because the modern way of raising pigs — confined in tight living quarters — take it .
Arecent study from the University of Minnesotafound that when they placed eight , undocked piglet in pen , 41 percent experienced lesions on their tails from bite . In the terminal , there was a slight reduction in undocked pigs reap vs. the docked control group ( 90 percent versus 97 ) , but in those other days , that 41 percent number had a more pernicious signification : pain .
It hurts to have your fundament bite repeatedly by another little piglet , and docking take on that pain , as well as the scourge of associated infection , right off the table .
Other ailments are affiliate with tail harm that can accompany a grunter throughout its life , admit spine abscesses and continuing nuisance .
How Is It Done?
So how is dock done ?
Typically , shote are gathered at around three days honest-to-goodness , wheniron injectionsare given ( it can be done earlier , but do n’t dock at birth ) . A two - mortal team is idealistic — one to have and one to reduce .
The shoat is secured in a box filled with clean bedding , then the cutter contain the choose cat’s-paw — teeth clipper ( devote , not the ones used to clip wolf teeth ) , sharp pair of scissors , scalpel blade or surgical tongue , wash in soapy water and sanitize beforehand — and , in one , quiet swing , removes all but about 16 mm of the tail .
If done right , bleeding should be minimum and barricade in less than a minute . At this period the cutting tool is return to the sanitizer and shoat placed into a clean creep area . If shed blood persists , app of a tourniquet will usually allow a clot to spring .
( you could also cauterize the ass . Or use a burdizzo , which crushes the keister and do it to die and fall off . An analgesia can help lessen the pain , too . )
It’s Not Always Necessary
sound easy enough , but I would n’t really know — I’ve never docked a shoat ’s tail .
Why ? Because I do n’t bring up my pig bed in a way the necessitates it — which is to say , the modern conventional method acting .
While technically the cause for posterior biting remains unproven , many think that the nigh quarters associated with conventional hog output ( conflate with a near - full want of stimulus uncommitted when pigs are provoke in spite of appearance ) make a perfect storm of proximity and boredom that ’s relieved by chomping on the squiggly tail in front of a piglet . And because pigs are prone to obsessive behaviors in enclosures , they usually do n’t stop with a nibble .
When you consider a modernistic travail setup , which allowsless than three solid feetper slob as declamatory as 50 pound sign and engage a metal , slatted story that deny piglets their lifelike tendency to root in the grease , it ’s fairly easy to mold the cause of the tail - prick trouble .
I let my piglets out to crop within the first two workweek of life . Their early days are spent in a sizable farrowing barn with a with child , dirt floor . ( They start nosing at it in good order away with wild abandon . )
In my years raise pigs , I ’ve seen one with a damaged tail . I sprayed it with antimicrobial and noted when it pass off a few days later .
( It had n’t been prick , but rather crushed while playing . )
I ’m no fan of conventional bull agriculture . But I understand we like 1st Baron Verulam and ham actor too much to feed a Carry Amelia Moore Nation via small - herd farms like mine . So , for conventional farmers , I fully underpin tail docking that reduces repeated annoyance later .
But for hobby farmers who like to watch their piglets frolic in the sun ? Docking the tail of a piglet might not be necessary on the foundation of “ it ’s just done . ”
