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Practice on castration of piglets in Europe

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 May 2009

B. Fredriksen ,
M. Font i Furnols ,
K. Lundström ,
W. Migdal ,
A. Prunier ,
F. A. M. Tuyttens  and
M. Bonneau
B. Fredriksen*
Affiliation:
Animalia Norwegian Meat and Poultry Research Centre, P.O. 396, Økern, 0513 Oslo, Norway
M. Font i Furnols
Affiliation:
IRTA-Food Technology, Finca Camps i Armet, 17121 Monells, Spain
K. Lundström
Affiliation:
Department of Food Science, Swedish University of Agricultural Science, Box 7051, SE-750 07 Uppsala, Sweden
W. Migdal
Affiliation:
Faculty of Food Technology, Department of Animal Product Technology, University of Agriculture in Krakow, ul. Balicka 122, 30-149 Krakow, Poland
A. Prunier
Affiliation:
French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA), UMR 1079 INRA-Agrocampus Ouest, 35590 Saint Gilles, France
F. A. M. Tuyttens
Affiliation:
Institute for Agricultural and Fisheries Research, Scheldeweg 68, 9090 Melle, Belgium
M. Bonneau
Affiliation:
French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA), UMR 1079 INRA-Agrocampus Ouest, 35590 Saint Gilles, France
*
†E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

PIGCAS (Attitudes, practices and state of the art regarding piglet castration in Europe) is to our knowledge the first project that has focused on castration practice across European countries (European Union minus Bulgaria, Malta and Romania, plus Norway and Switzerland). About 250 million pigs are slaughtered in Europe each year. Of the 125 million male pigs, approximately 20% are left entire, less than 3% are castrated with anaesthesia and the rest is castrated without anaesthesia. The study identified large variations in castration procedures, both within and between countries. In females, castration is very rare, but is practiced without anaesthesia in special breeds/production systems in some of the southern countries.

Keywords

castrationpigpracticeanaesthesiaimmunocastration
Type
Full Paper
Information
animal , Volume 3 , Issue 11 , November 2009 , pp. 1480 - 1487
Copyright
Copyright © The Animal Consortium 2009

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References

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