Dietary fibre (tail biting)

Last update: 2 June 2023

• Action: Reduce the risk of tail biting, thus avoiding the need for tail docking.
• Animal category: Fattening pigs and gilts.
• Technique: Inclusion of 12 to 14% of high-fiber feed ingredients such as oat hulls, beet pulp, chicory, soy hulls or sunflower seed meal.
• Mode of action: Dietary fiber impacts gut health and tail biting predisposition by providing physical structure to the digesta, increasing the feelings of satiety resulting in less manipulative behavior directed at pen mates, less oral behavior reducing aggressivity.
• Potential efficacy: Reduction of the number of animals with tail damage observed but not quantifiable as tail biting is a multifactorial challenge, which satiety is only one.
• Nature of evidence of efficacy: Peer-reviewed scientific publications.
• Factors impacting on efficacy: Enrichment of the pen, climate, hygiene, growth stage, genetic potential and health status of the animals; amino acid and mineral composition of the feed; no evidence of efficacy on weaned piglets.
• Mode of use: Formulation of the standard complete feed.
• Requirements/limitations: No limitation.
• Economic consequences: Reduction of feed intake and daily gain but no impact on feed conversion ratio; higher meat percentage; no impact on offsprings.
• Other considerations: Use of dietary fiber has positive effects on gut health (a.o. reduction of the risk of gastric ulcers) and reduces boar taint for entire males.
• References:
  • Van der Peet Schwering et al. (2017). Effect van voersamenstelling op bijtgedrag bij varkens. Wageningen University & Research.
  • Bernardino et al. (2021). High fiber diet reduces stereotypic behavior of gilts but does not affect offspring performance. Applied Animal Behaviour Science. Volume 243, October 2021, 105433. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2021.105433
  • EFSA (2022). Welfare of pigs on farm. https://doi.org/10.2903/j.efsa.2022.7421
• Other techniques: Balancing diet with amino acids and minerals.