Tail docking of piglets — removal of part of the tail — is performed routinely in many countries to prevent tail-biting, but EU law prohibits routine docking, requiring farms to address root causes instead.
Tail docking represents a welfare trade-off where a painful preventive procedure is used to avoid the potentially worse welfare outcome of severe tail-biting. The EU's legal position is correct in principle: routine docking should be unnecessary if farms provide appropriate conditions. The problem is that intensive production systems create the conditions that drive tail-biting — and docking is cheaper than addressing these conditions. Intact-tail farming requires higher management intensity, more space, and genuine enrichment provision. Where farms have committed to intact-tail production, success is achievable with appropriate husbandry. The welfare solution requires addressing both the symptom (tail-biting) and its causes (barren, overcrowded, stressful environments).