Stress and the occurrence, prevention and treatment of tail biting disease in pigs

In the current intensive production, the phenomenon of pigs biting each other's tails is more common, especially in the state of production.

First, stress. In intensive pig production, the stressors affecting the normal physiological activities of pigs are increasing day by day, which can lead to the decrease of immunity, the enhancement of catabolism, the decrease of anabolism and the disorder of sexual function. in severe cases, it can cause a series of stress syndrome. Such as pale soft exudative pork, dry hard dark pork, adult pig dorsal muscle necrosis, pig acute gastric ulcer, pig tail biting disease and so on. It can be seen that pig tail biting is a pathological manifestation of porcine stress syndrome.

Second, induce

1. Variety and individual differences. If pigs of different breeds or the same breed are raised in a pigsty, the phenomenon of bullying the small often occurs in occupying the sleeping area and grabbing food.

2. Environment. ⑴ house temperature is too high or too low; ⑵ poor ventilation and harmful gas accumulation; ⑶ weather mutation; ⑷ pigsty damp caused by skin itching and other factors, so that pigs have a sense of discomfort or bad rest caused by gnawing; ⑸ excessive light, pigs are excited and restless; ⑹ pig living environment is monotonous, especially piglets lively and active, so each other "play" ears or tails will cause tail biting.

3. Nutrition. When the feed nutrition level is lower than the feeding standard, it can not meet the nutritional needs of pig growth and development, which can cause pig tail bite. The lack of protein feed and low crude fiber in ⑴ can lead to tail bite, and the imbalance of various nutrients in ⑵ diet, such as the deficiency and proportion of some minerals, trace elements and vitamins, can lead to tail bite.

4. Management. ⑴ in pigs with low social status can not get trough; ⑵ pig density is too high and too many pigs in the same column, disorder; ⑶ trough and drinking fountains are insufficient, ground feeding; ⑷ pigs are active frequently, can not fully rest and become irritated; ⑸ pigs are emotionally unstable due to hormonal stimulation; poor ⑹ hygiene or pooling, poor uniformity of pigs, etc., can induce tail biting.

5, diseases: ⑴ suffering from rabies, severe diarrhea, lack of calcium, phosphorus, iron and other nutritional metabolic disorders; ⑵ suffering from lice, scabies and other external parasites, can cause pig skin irritation and restlessness; ⑶ parasitic diseases, especially Ascaris lumbricoides, stimulate infected pigs to attack other pigs, resulting in tail biting.

III. Comprehensive prevention and control measures

1. Breed stress-resistant pig breeds. The phenomenon of tail biting occurs more frequently in Landrace pigs and Harbin white pigs, but rarely in Min pigs. Therefore, the use of breeding methods to select anti-stress pigs and eliminate stress-sensitive pigs can gradually establish a population of anti-stress pigs and fundamentally solve the stress problem of pigs.

2. Improve feeding and management. In intensive animal husbandry, in order to maximize economic benefits, people often take a series of measures in feeding and management, some of which may be stress factors at the same time. Therefore, in order to prevent or reduce the effects of stress and effectively prevent the occurrence of pig tail biting in intensive production, the feeding management must be improved in the whole process of pig breeding, purchase and marketing, transportation and slaughtering. to create a good living environment for the growth and development of pigs. Mainly need to do the following work.

To meet the nutritional needs of pigs. The nutritional level of the diet should be able to meet the nutritional needs of pigs at different growth stages, feed full-price compound feed, feed regularly and quantitatively, do not feed moldy and deteriorated feed, clean drinking water, adequate feeding trough and sink facilities, and pay attention to hygiene. avoid food fighting and uneven diet. When the phenomenon of tail biting is found, the nutritional components of the feed should be analyzed in time. In view of the insufficient nutrition, especially the lack of trace elements and vitamins, supplementary feeding should be made in time to eliminate the tail bite caused by nutritional stress.

Give good environmental conditions. The pig house building (site selection, site layout, pig house type) and environmental engineering design (ventilation type, manure treatment method, etc.) as well as the selection of facilities in the house (feed trough, drinking water mode, etc.) should meet the normal physiological requirements of pigs, try to create a more suitable microclimate environment for the growth of pigs, so as to avoid stress caused by heat and cold, thieves, fecal pollution, air turbidity, humidity and other factors.

Group reasonably. Feed pigs that are similar in origin, weight, physique, character and diet. Under the feeding and management conditions of natural temperature and natural ventilation, it is appropriate to have 10-20 heads per group, and the body weight of the same group of pigs should not exceed 4-5kg in the same group, and no more than 7-10kg in the shelf stage. The stability of the pig herd should be maintained after grouping, and it should not be changed arbitrarily except that the physique is too weak to be raised in the group because of the disease or the difference in weight.

Suitable feeding density. The suitable enclosure area for a fattening pig aged 3-4 months in general pig farm is 0.6 square meters, 0.8 square meters for 4-6 months old, 1 square meters for 7-8 months old and 1.2 square meters for 9-10 months old.

The piglet has its tail cut off. On the day the piglet is born, cut off the tail with blunt scissors and apply iodine tincture or ear number within 2 days after the piglet is born, use steel wire pliers to continuously clamp 2 forceps at 3 places under the tail, the distance between 2 pliers is about 0.4 cm, cut off the coccyx and caudal muscle forceps, flatten the blood vessels and nerves, and the skin is pressed into a groove. 7-10 days after the clamp, the lower 1x3 of the tail can be removed. The method is simple, no bleeding, no inflammation, and the effect is good. Cutting off the tail of piglets is an effective measure to control tail biting disease.

3. Drug prevention and treatment. In order to prevent the occurrence of stress-induced pig tail biting disease, anti-stress drugs can be given through diet, drinking water or other ways. These drugs are generally divided into three categories: stress preventive agents, adaptive agents, symptomatic drugs or stress relievers.

Stress prophylaxis can weaken the effect of stress on the body, there are usually diazepam analgesics and tranquilizers, most of which have been banned. Adaptive agents can improve the non-specific resistance of the body, thus improve the ability of anti-stress, participate in carbohydrate metabolism (citric acid, succinic acid, etc.), alleviate acidosis and maintain acid-base balance. Such as sodium bicarbonate, ammonium chloride, trace elements (zinc, selenium, etc.), microecological preparations, Agar tissue preparations, Chinese herbal medicine preparations. Vitamins (vitamins C and E have the best effect) have been widely used in poultry industry, and their anti-stress effects on pigs need to be further studied. Stress relieving agents include bacillus peptide zinc and so on. More attention should be paid to the effectiveness of the above anti-stress drugs in the prevention and treatment of pig tail biting disease.