Pigs like to peck at other pig buttocks. What's going on?

It could be pica. The disease is one of the problems often encountered in production, especially in the winter and spring when the light time is insufficient and the temperature is low. Improper feeding and management, environmental discomfort, imbalance of feed nutrition supply, disease and metabolic disorders are the causes of the disease. Due to long-term eclipse, pigs often cause growth retardation, weight loss and anorexia, causing unnecessary economic losses to pig farmers.

First, clinical symptoms

Pig pica is characterized by biting tail, biting ear, biting rib, sucking belly button, especially eating chicken dung, urine, arching ground, gnawing wooden sticks, making circles, jumping hurdles and so on. Biting and fighting with each other is a more malignant kind of pica, which is characterized by pig sensitivity to external stimuli, restless behavior, reduced appetite and ferocious eyes. At first, only a few bitten each other, and gradually many heads participated in it, mainly biting the tail, a few also biting the ear, the pig tail depilation and bleeding, and the pigs became addicted to blood, and the harm gradually expanded. Bitten pigs often have tail skin and fur shedding, affecting weight gain, serious secondary infection of osteomyelitis and abscess, if not timely treatment can be complicated with septicemia, resulting in death.

Second, the cause of the disease

The main results are as follows: 1. Improper management: excessive feeding density, narrow feeding space, lack of drinking water, disparity in the size of pigs in the same circle, contention for order and so on are the causes of pica.

2. Environmental factors: the reason for the high incidence in winter and autumn may be that the dry and dusty environment leads to irritability and aggressive behavior of pigs. For example, the temperature in the house is too high or too low, poor ventilation and harmful gas accumulation, excessive light in the pig house, pigs are excited and restless, pigs are frightened, abnormal weather changes, wet pens and so on will cause pigs to feel uncomfortable and eventually lead to pica such as gnawing.

3. Individual differences: if pigs with excessive weight differences between different breeds or the same breed are raised in the same pigsty, they contradict each other and compete for supremacy because of the differences in breeds and life characteristics. There are great differences between individuals, and the phenomenon of bullying the small often occurs in occupying sleeping area and grabbing food.

4. Disease factors: when pigs suffer from external parasites such as lice and scabies, they can cause irritation and restlessness of pig skin, and friction in the pigsty leads to exudate behind the ear and ribs, which attracts other pigs and induces tail biting. Parasitic diseases in pigs, especially Ascaris lumbricoides, stimulate infected pigs to attack other pigs. Tail biting can also occur due to emotional instability caused by hormonal stimulation in pigs.

5. Nutrition level: when the feed nutrition level is lower than the feeding standard and can not meet the nutritional needs of pig growth and development, it can lead to the occurrence of tail biting disease. In addition, the imbalance of various micronutrients in the diet, such as potassium, sodium, magnesium, iron, phosphorus, calcium, vitamin deficiency or imbalance will also cause this disease.

6. its own nature: pigs love to play and move. when the environment is comfortable, piglets bite the tails of other pigs and imitate each other. Pig imitation is one of the reasons why pigs have pica and lead to mass pica. At the same time, pigs bite each other because of injuries such as broken skin and bleeding.

III. Prevention and control measures

1. Strengthen management

① reasonable arrangement of pig houses: the individual differences of pigs in the same circle should not be too large and should be as close as possible; the feeding density of pigs should not be too large, and the feeding density of pigs is generally determined according to the size of the pig house, and the principle is that it is not crowded, does not affect growth and can eat and drink normally, denser in winter and thinner in summer. Ensure that each finishing pig has a feeding area of 0.8-1 square meters, medium pigs 0.6-0.7 square meters and piglets 0.3-0.5 square meters.

② raises addiction pigs alone: tail biting is often caused by individual belligerent pigs. If a pig with tail-biting addiction is found in the circle, it should be picked out and raised separately in time. You can apply tar on the pigtail or spray the whole body and nose of the pig with spirits above 50 degrees, 3-5 times a day, generally 2 days can control tail biting. At the same time, isolate the bitten pig, clean the wound with potassium permanganate solution in time, and apply iodine tincture to prevent wound infection. Serious cases can be treated with antibiotics.

③ to avoid stress: regulate the temperature in the pig house, strengthen the ventilation of the pig house, and avoid stress caused by thieves, fecal pollution, air pollution and other factors. Regular and quantitative feeding of high-quality feed, clean drinking water, adequate feeding trough and sink facilities, pay attention to hygiene, avoid food fighting and uneven drinking water.

Timely tail cutting of ④ piglets: tail cutting of piglets is an effective measure to control tail biting disease. The best time to break the tail is about 3 days old, and the best tool for breaking the tail is 1000 watts of electric iron. It is better to be scalded within 2-3 seconds after being plugged in. Many farmers cut off their tails by other methods, resulting in infection.

⑤ distracts pigs: toys such as chains, leather balls, old tires and green feed are placed in the pens to distract pigs to reduce the occurrence of tail bites.

⑥ uses balanced nutrition formula feed: select high-quality feed raw materials, if the diet is mainly corn, soybean meal must pay attention to the addition of methionine to balance amino acid balance. To appropriately increase the amount of edible salt, it is best to choose mineral and trace element salt powder. You can also add seasoning and digestion agents to the feed, and add garlic, sugar and market condiments to improve pig pica.