Development of a scoring system to determine the prevalence, severity, and associated risk factors of tail-biting and lameness

摘要

Lameness and tail-biting affect the welfare and productivity of growing pigs. Both can be sporadic, but there are several risk factors that may promote occurrence, including availability of feed and water, overcrowding, ventilation, and concomitant disease. The objective of this study was to develop a common scoring system for producers to communicate severity of tail-biting and lameness and use that scoring system to determine prevalence and severity in a production system, while also identifying relevant risk factors.