Tail docking of piglets is performed routinely in most intensive pig systems to prevent tail biting — itself caused by the barren, overcrowded conditions that make biting a stress outlet. This preventive mutilation addresses symptoms rather than causes.
Tail docking in pigs exemplifies how intensive farming creates welfare problems that are then addressed through additional welfare-compromising interventions rather than environmental improvement. The procedure causes acute pain — piglets vocalize, struggle, and show pain behaviors during and after docking. Neuromas can form at the wound site, causing chronic pain. Yet the tail biting that docking prevents is entirely a product of the system: pigs in adequate environments with sufficient enrichment, space, and social structure rarely bite tails. Eliminating docking requires eliminating its cause — enrichment, lower stocking density, and environmental complexity. The Netherlands's success in phasing out routine docking demonstrates this is commercially achievable. Continuing to dock rather than improve conditions is a choice to manage suffering with suffering rather than address the root cause.