The Economic Implications of Phasing Out Pig Tail Docking: A Pilot Study in Italy

The European Commission's ban on routine tail docking has prompted this retrospective observational study to evaluate the short-term effects of transitioning to a fully undocked system. Twenty-two farms were assessed during three subsequent phases: total tail docking (step 1), subgroups of undocked pigs (step 2), and fully undocked pigs (step 3). Farmers received training in long-tail management and independently implemented it on their own farms. However, straw provision as environmental enrichment was mandatory, at least supplied during periods of pigs' restlessness. Overall, going through step 2 appears to be successful. However, transitioning to step 3 worsened mortality (<i>p</i> = 0.010) and the feed conversion ratio (<i>p</i> = 0.015) in weaners. Compared to step 1, the cost of producing 1 kg of meat in step 3 was 33.9% greater during weaning and 7.4% during fattening. Tail lesion prevalence at slaughter was greater in step 3 (41%), followed by step 2 (10%) and step 1 (1%). The hypothetical labour required to optimize straw management compared to the adopted system, ensuring its continuous availability, was estimated as 35 min/100 piglets/weaning cycle (EUR 4.37) and 10.5 h/100 pigs/fattening cycle (EUR 109). Under the conditions of this study, transitioning to a fully undocked system was not successful. Mandating only the non-continuous use of straw has proven insufficient, and greater efforts must be systematically implemented.