Tail docking of piglets is widespread in conventional production systems as a response to tail-biting. Understanding why tail-biting occurs reveals how to prevent it without the welfare cost of docking.
Tail docking represents a welfare intervention that causes immediate pain to prevent welfare harm from tail-biting — but this frames the issue incorrectly. The real prevention lies in addressing the environmental drivers of tail-biting: barren, overcrowded conditions that leave pigs with unmet foraging motivations. Farms that provide rooting material, reduce stocking density, and manage group dynamics effectively raise undocked pigs with low tail-biting rates. The continued prevalence of docking in systems where it is legally required only as a last resort reflects enforcement failure and producer inertia rather than genuine necessity. Closing this gap requires regulatory enforcement combined with technical support for producers transitioning to undocked systems.