The European Commission is organising a two day meeting from 27 to 28 November 2018, sharing valuable insights from top EU experts on progress with rearing pigs with intact tails and thus improving their welfare.

The meeting, which will take place at the Commission's Health and Food audit and analysis Directorate in Ireland, will be available via web streaming (see web-links below).

The topics presented are especially of interest for industry stakeholders, authorities in EU Member States, researchers, and NGOs interested in the welfare of pigs, as they focus on ongoing work to improve rearing conditions on farms to assist in the phasing out of routine tail-docking of pigs and managing the risk factors relating to tail biting.

The group of expert speakers include pig farmers and industry representative organisations, EU Member State competent authorities, research bodies, NGOs and EU institutions. Discussions will focus on what has been done, and what remains to be done, to get better solutions for the future. The work of the newly created EU Reference Centre for Animal Welfare, focussing initially on pigs, will also be presented at this meeting. A more detailed agenda will be uploaded once all speakers have been confirmed.

Please note that proceedings from this meeting, apart from table discussions, will be broadcast live and can be followed via the following links:

27 November 2018 - 09:00-18:00 - https://webcast.ec.europa.eu/progress-on-rearing-pigs-with-intact-tails-in-europe-day1

28 November 2018 - 09:00-15:00 - https://webcast.ec.europa.eu/progress-on-rearing-pigs-with-intact-tails-in-europe-day2