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.

This paper constitutes a review on the welfare aspects of piglet castration that considers the scientific literature published after 2004. Castrating during the neonatal period (1 to 3 days of age) is clearly painful. In addition, inflammatory processes may take place at the sites of incision, thus adding further pain to the procedure. Surgical castration with general and local anaesthesia, in combination with long-term analgesia, has been shown to reduce pain but the additional handling and injection of the anaesthetic, the effectiveness and limited safety margins have to be thoroughly evaluated. Raising entire males during the whole fattening period or immunocastration of males towards the end of the fattening period are other alternatives with welfare benefits in young pigs compared to current surgical castration, but with some potential welfare drawbacks regarding handling stress and behaviour during fattening. Based on the current knowledge, it can be concluded that sperm sexing and raising entire males after genetic control of boar taint are potentially preferable alternatives to current practices, but need further research, as these methods are not yet available.

This paper constitutes an updated review of the production and meat quality aspects of rearing entire male pigs. Since a major obstacle in rearing entire males is the incidence of boar taint, possible methods for detection are also summarised. Safe and fast methods for detection of boar taint would be valuable in avoiding complaints from consumers. Pig meat quality is determined by many aspects, among which odour and taste are the most important attributes. Odour may be negatively affected by the presence of a pheromonal steroid, androstenone, and a fermentation product of l-tryptophan, skatole. Male pigs are surgically castrated in many countries to minimise the risk of accumulation of high levels of androstenone and skatole. Raising entire male pigs is more profitable because they have superior production characteristics and improved meat quality due to leaner carcasses and higher protein content, as compared to castrated pigs. Furthermore, surgical castration is negative from an animal welfare point of view. In most studies, no differences in sensory quality have been found between lean meat from entire male pigs with low levels of androstenone and skatole and pork from castrates and females. The question that remains is: which substances are responsible for boar taint besides androstenone and skatole and whether they need to be considered? The threshold values used for androstenone and skatole might also be too high for highly sensitive persons. Recent research shows that a human odorant receptor, ORD7D4, is involved in sensitivity to androstenone. If the ORD7D4 genotypes of consumer and expert panels are known, this might facilitate consumer studies in the future. There is still a great need for rapid on/at-line detection methods in abattoirs for identifying carcasses with unacceptable levels of boar taint compounds. Several emerging rapid technologies with a potential for boar taint detection have been investigated. They represent various measurement principles such as chemical sensor arrays (electronic noses), mass-spectrometry fingerprinting, ultra-fast gas chromatography, gas-phase spectrometry and biosensors. An industrial detection method should allow 100% correct classification of both acceptable and not-acceptable samples with regard to boar taint sorting criteria. There are, however, still too high a percentage of false negatives ranging from 5% to 20%. In addition, these methods do not yet seem to fulfil the industrial specifications with regard to cost efficiency, simplicity and analysis time. There is still no dedicated measurement technology available for on/at-line detection of boar-tainted carcasses that measures both androstenone and skatole.

Pork odour is to a great extent affected by the presence of malodorous compounds, mainly androstenone and skatole. The present review outlines the current state of knowledge about factors involved in the regulation of androstenone and skatole in entire male pigs. Androstenone is a pheromonal steroid synthesised in the testes and metabolised in the liver. Part of androstenone accumulates in adipose tissue causing a urine-like odour. Skatole is produced in the large intestine by bacterial degradation of tryptophan and metabolised by hepatic cytochrome P450 enzymes and sulphotransferase. The un-metabolised part accumulates in adipose tissue, causing faecal-like odour. Androstenone levels are mostly determined by genetic factors and stage of puberty, whereas skatole levels in addition to genetic background and hormonal status of the pigs are also controlled by nutritional and environmental factors. To reduce the risk of tainted carcasses entering the market, male pigs are surgically castrated in many countries. However, entire males compared to castrates have superior production characteristics: higher growth rate, better feed efficiency and leaner carcasses. Additionally, animal welfare aspects are currently of particular importance in light of increasing consumers’ concerns. Nutrition, hormonal status, genetic influence on boar taint compounds and the methods to develop genetic markers are discussed. Boar taint due to high levels of skatole and androstenone is moderately heritable and not all market weight entire males have boar taint; it should thus be possible to select for pigs that do not have boar taint. In these studies, it is critical to assess the steroidogenic potential of the pigs in order to separate late-maturing pigs from those with a low genetic potential for boar taint. A number of candidate genes for boar taint have been identified and work is continuing to develop genetic markers for low boar taint. More research is needed to clarify the factors involved in the development of boar taint and to develop additional methods to prevent the accumulation of high concentrations of skatole and androstenone in fat. This review proposes those areas requiring further research.

This paper presents an analysis of the economic implications of alternative methods to surgical castration without anaesthesia. Detailed research results on the economic implications of four different alternatives are reported: castration with local anaesthesia, castration with general anaesthesia, immunocastration and raising entire males. The first three alternatives have been assessed for their impact on pig production costs in the most important pig-producing Member States of the EU. The findings on castration with anaesthesia show that cost differences among farms increase if the anaesthesia cannot be administered by farmers and when the veterinarian has to be called to perform it. The cost of veterinarian service largely affects the total average costs, making this solution economically less feasible in small-scale pig farms. In all other farms, the impact on production costs of local anaesthesia is however limited and does not exceed 1 €ct per kg. General anaesthesia administered by inhalation or injection of Ketamin in combination with a sedative (Azaperone, Midazolan) is more expensive. These costs depend heavily on farm size, as the inhalation equipment has to be depreciated on the largest number of pigs possible. The overall costs of immunocastration – including the cost of the work load for the farmer – has to be evaluated against the potential benefits derived from higher daily weight gain and feed efficiency in comparison with surgical castrates. The economic feasibility of this practice will finally depend on the price of the vaccine and on consumer acceptance of immunocastration. The improvement in feed efficiency may compensate almost entirely for the cost of vaccination. The main advantages linked to raising entire males are due to the higher efficiency of feed conversion, to the better growth rate and to the higher leanness of carcass. A higher risk of boar taint on the slaughter line has to be accounted for. Raising entire males should not generate more than 2.5% of boar taint among slaughter pigs, in order to maintain the considerable economic benefits of better feed efficiency of entire males with respect to castrates.

A quantitative trait locus (QTL) for increased loin muscularity (TM-QTL) has previously been identified in purebred Texel sheep. Crossbred lambs born out of Mule ewes mated to heterozygous Texel sires for the TM-QTL were evaluated for a range of carcass traits. Lambs were genotyped and classified as carriers (n = 62) of a single copy of the TM-QTL and non-carriers (n = 49). In this study, the effects of the TM-QTL on carcass attributes were investigated using subjective classification scores for conformation and fatness, and measurements from a video image analysis (VIA) system. In addition, refined prediction equations to estimate weights of primal joints (leg, chump, loin, breast and shoulder) were obtained by calibrating the VIA system against computer tomography (CT) measurements in the loin region. The new refined prediction models increased the accuracy of prediction of all primal cuts on an average of 16% compared to previously derived standard VIA prediction equations. The coefficient of determination (R2) of the VIA system to predict in vivo CT measurements ranged from 0.39 to 0.72 for measurements of Musculus longissimus lumborum (MLL) area, width and depth, lumbar spine length, loin muscle volume and loin muscularity index. Using VIA estimates of CT-measured loin muscle traits, a significant increase in depth (+2.7%) of the MLL was found to be associated with the TM-QTL. Conformation and fatness scores and the shape of the carcass measured as individual lengths, widths and areas by VIA were not significantly influenced by the TM-QTL. Primal meat yields estimated using both standard and refined VIA prediction equations were not significantly affected by the TM-QTL. However, carcass ‘compactness’ was found to have significantly increased in carrier lambs. The weight of the dissected MLL estimated using VIA information was greater (+2.6%) for carriers compared to non-carriers. To conclude, neither the current industry carcass evaluation system for conformation and fatness nor the standard VIA system is able to identify the effect of the TM-QTL in the loin region in the moment. However, the calibration of the VIA system against CT measurements resulted in improved VIA prediction equations for primal meat yields and also showed moderate potential to estimate loin muscle traits measured by CT and to detect, partially, the effect of the TM-QTL on these traits.

Aggression when pigs are mixed into new social groups has negative impacts on welfare and production. Aggressive behaviour is moderately heritable and could be reduced by genetic selection. The possible wider impacts of selection for reduced aggressiveness on handling traits and activity in the home pen were investigated using 1663 male and female pedigree pigs (898 purebred Yorkshire and 765 Yorkshire × Landrace). Aggressive behaviour was observed over 24 h after pigs were mixed at 10 weeks of age into groups balanced for unfamiliarity and weight. Aggression was highly heritable (duration of involvement in reciprocal fighting h2 = 0.47 ± 0.03, and duration of delivering one-sided aggression h2 = 0.34 ± 0.03). Three weeks after mixing, home pen inactivity (indicated by the frequency of lying) was observed over 24 h. Inactivity was weakly heritable (h2 = 0.05 ± 0.01) but showed no significant genetic association with aggression. Pigs’ behaviour during handling by humans was assessed on entry to, whilst inside and on exit from a weigh crate at both mixing and end of test at 22 weeks. Pigs were generally easy to handle, moving easily into and out of the crate. Scores indicating ‘very difficult to move’ were rare. Handling scores at weighing were weakly heritable (h2 = 0.03 to 0.17), and moderately correlated across the two weighings (rg = 0.28 to 0.76). Aggressive behaviour at mixing was genetically associated with handling at the end of test weighing: pigs that fought and delivered one-sided aggression had handling scores indicating more active behaviour at weighing (e.g. moving quickly into the crate v. fighting rg = 0.41 ± 0.05 and v. bullying rg = 0.60 ± 0.04). Also, there was a genetic association between receiving one-side aggression at mixing and producing high-pitched vocalisations in the weigh crate (rg = 0.78 ± 0.08). Correlated behavioural responses occurring across different challenging situations (e.g. social mixing and human handling) have been described by the concept of animal temperament (also known as coping styles, personality or behavioural syndromes), but this has rarely been demonstrated at the genetic level in farm animals. These findings may have practical implications for the development of breeding programmes aimed at altering animal temperament. Breeding to reduce aggression could result in some reduction in activity at weighing. This would have consequences for animal production, because pigs which are inactive at weighing take longer to move into and out of the weigh crate, and perhaps also for animal welfare.

The experiment measured lamb responses to supplementation of the pregnant ewe diet with vitamin E above requirement. Crossbred ewes were mated with either Suffolk or Texel rams. Twin-bearing ewes were randomly allocated (approximately 21 months of age at allocation) to one of four treatment groups (20 ewes per group, 10 mated with Suffolk and 10 with Texel rams). Treatments imposed were 50, 100, 150 or 250 IU supplementary vitamin E per ewe per day to give a four treatment by two sire-type factorial experimental design. Ewes were fed concentrates to meet energy requirements for stage of pregnancy and hay ad libitum. Diets were introduced approximately 6 weeks before lambing. Blood samples were obtained prior to introduction of diets, 17 days after introduction of diets and within 24 h of lambing from a subset of eight ewes per treatment (32 total). Colostrum samples were obtained from 10 ewes per treatment, 12 h after birth of the first lamb. All births were observed and a lamb vigour score was assigned to each lamb 5 min after birth. At 1 and 12 h after birth, rectal temperature, and at 12 h after birth, sex, crown-rump length and BW of each lamb were recorded. Mean ewe plasma α-tocopherol concentration prior to introduction of the diets was 1.5 μg/ml (s.e.m. 0.09) and did not differ between groups. There were positive linear (P < 0.001) effects of dietary vitamin E on plasma (17 days after introduction of diets) and colostrum (12 h after birth) α-tocopherol concentrations. Lamb vigour scores were superior (P < 0.001) for lambs sired by Texel rather than Suffolk rams but there were no differences as a result of vitamin E supplementation. Lamb mortality was low and unrelated to either sire or supplementary vitamin E. Lamb birth and weaning weights were also unaffected by vitamin E supplementation. Supplementing the ewe with vitamin E therefore had no effect on any lamb measurements.

The objective of this study was to evaluate changes in ruminal microorganisms and fermentation parameters due to dietary supplementation of soybean and linseed oil alone or in combination. Four dietary treatments were tested in a Latin square designed experiment using four primiparous rumen-cannulated dairy cows. Treatments were control (C, 60 : 40 forage to concentrate) or C with 4% soybean oil (S), 4% linseed oil (L) or 2% soybean oil plus 2% linseed oil (SL) in a 4 × 4 Latin square with four periods of 21 days. Forage and concentrate mixtures were fed at 0800 and 2000 h daily. Ruminal fluid was collected every 2 h over a 12-h period on day 19 of each experimental period and pH was measured immediately. Samples were prepared for analyses of concentrations of volatile fatty acids (VFA) by GLC and ammonia. Counts of total and individual bacterial groups (cellulolytic, proteolytic, amylolytic bacteria and total viable bacteria) were performed using the roll-tube technique, and protozoa counts were measured via microscopy in ruminal fluid collected at 0, 4 and 8 h after the morning feeding. Content of ruminal digesta was obtained via the rumen cannula before the morning feeding and used immediately for DNA extraction and quantity of specific bacterial species was obtained using real- time PCR. Ruminal pH did not differ but total VFA (110 v. 105 mmol/l) were lower (P < 0.05) with oil supplementation compared with C. Concentration of ruminal NH3-N (4.4 v. 5.6 mmol/l) was greater (P < 0.05) due to oil compared with C. Compared with C, oil supplementation resulted in lower (P < 0.05) cellulolytic bacteria (3.25 × 108v. 4.66 × 108 colony-forming units (CFU)/ml) and protozoa (9.04 × 104v. 12.92 × 104 cell/ml) colony counts. Proteolytic bacteria (7.01 × 108v. 6.08 × 108 CFU/ml) counts, however, were greater in response to oil compared with C (P < 0.05). Among oil treatments, the amount of Butyrivibrio fibrisolvens, Fibrobacter succinogenes and Ruminococcus flavefaciens in ruminal fluid was substantially lower (P < 0.05) when L was included. Compared to C, the amount of Ruminococcus albus decreased by an average of 40% regardless of oil level or type. Overall, the results indicate that some ruminal microorganisms, except proteolytic bacteria, are highly susceptible to dietary unsaturated fatty acids supplementation, particularly when linolenic acid rich oils were fed. Dietary oil effects on ruminal fermentation parameters seemed associated with the profile of ruminal microorganisms.

It has been suggested that United Kingdom recommendations for feeding the neonatal calf (∼500 g milk replacer (MR)/day; ∼200–230 g CP/kg milk powder) are inadequate to sustain optimal growth rates in early life. The current study was undertaken with 153 high genetic merit, male and female Holstein-Friesian calves (PIN2000 = £48) born between September and March, with heifers reared and bred to calve at 24 months of age. Calves were allocated to one of four pre-weaning dietary treatments arranged in a 2 MR feeding level (5 v. 10 l/day) × 2 MR protein content (210 v. 270 g CP/kg dry matter (DM)) factorial design. MR was reconstituted at a rate of 120 g/l of water, throughout, and was offered via computerised automated milk feeders. Calves were introduced to pre-weaning diets at 5 days of age and weaned at day 56. During the first 56 days of life, calves offered 10 l MR/day had significantly higher liveweight gains (P < 0.001) than calves fed 5 l MR/day. No significant differences in liveweight gain were found between calves fed 210 g CP/kg DM MR and those fed 270 g CP/kg DM MR from birth to day 56. Differences in live weight and body size due to feeding level disappeared by day 90. Neither MR feeding level nor MR CP content affected age at first service or age at successful service, and with no milk production effects, the results indicate no post-weaning benefits of increased nutrition during the milk-feeding period in dairy heifers.

It has been shown previously that lipid metabolism is regulated by fatty acids (FA) and that thyroid hormones are important regulators of energy metabolism. The effects of weight, dietary fat level and dietary FA profile on thyroid hormone levels and expression of lipogenic genes and tissue FA composition were studied. Sixty-one crossbred gilts weighing 62 ± 5.2 kg BW average were either slaughtered at the beginning of the trial (n = 5) or fed one of seven diets (n = 8 pigs per diet): a semi-synthetic diet formulated to contain a very low level of fat (NF) and six diets based on barley–soybean meal supplemented with approximately 10% fat of different origin and slaughtered at 100 kg BW. The supplemental fats were tallow, high-oleic sunflower oil, sunflower oil (SFO), linseed oil, fat blend (55% tallow, 35% sunflower oil, 10% linseed oil) and fish oil blend (40% fish oil, 60% linseed oil). In general, the dietary FA profiles altered the FA composition of liver, semimembranosus muscle and adipose tissues. Pigs fed the NF diet had the highest free and total triiodothyronine (T3) values followed by pigs fed SFO. Total T3 levels were higher in pigs at 60 kg than in pigs at 100 kg. Correlations between thyroid hormones and genes encoding enzymes of fat synthesis in adipose tissue (acetyl CoA carboxylase (ACACA), fatty acid synthase and stearoyl CoA desaturase (SCD)) and the large differences in expression of lipogenic genes at different weights (60 and 100 kg BW), suggest a role for thyroid hormones and for T3, in particular, in regulating whole animal fat metabolism, with effects brought about by altered expression of lipogenic genes. Liver sterol receptor element binding protein-1 (SREBP1) mRNA content was affected by dietary treatment (P < 0.001) and was correlated with ACACA and SCD, whereas adipose tissue SREBP1 was not correlated with the mRNA abundance of any lipogenic enzyme. Weight and tissue factors showed greater influence on mRNA abundance of genes related with lipid metabolism than diet and tissue FA composition. In the pig, FA synthesis appear to be of greater magnitude in adipose tissue than in the liver as suggested by the higher expression of lipogenic genes in adipose tissue.

The advent of the open access (OA) movement in publishing has been instrumental in causing a shift in the accessibility of research findings published in academic journals. The adoption of OA and other online publication models means that the results of scientific research published in journals using a free access (FA) framework are now available, free of charge, to anyone with access to the Internet. FA journals typically require a payment from the authors of a manuscript, which has raised concerns about the quality of work published in them; accepting payment from an author may compromise a journal’s acceptance criteria. This study addresses whether journal policy on the treatment of animals is influenced by whether a journal follows a FA publishing model, and whether a requirement to pay for publication has an influence. A random sample of 332 biomedical journals listed in the ISI Web of Knowledge and Directory of Open Access Journals databases were assessed for whether they had an ethical policy on publishing animal studies, and what form of publication framework they used (103 of the journals followed a FA framework; 101 charged in some way for publication). Only 135 (40.7%) of the journals surveyed demanded that submissions comply with a pre-defined ethical stance. FA journals are just as likely to have an ethical policy on the treatment and presentation of animal studies as ‘traditional’, non-FA journals (significance of there being a difference: P = 0.98), and there is no relationship between policy and whether an author is required to pay for publication (significance of there being a difference: P = 0.57). Older journals are more likely to have an ethical policy (P = 0.03). There is, therefore, no obvious compromise shown by FA journals in the explicit policies on reporting studies involving animals. However, since anyone can read published FA studies online, FA journals that do not have an explicit policy about publishing animal research are urged to consider adopting one.

The first part of this study was a cross-sectional analysis of the impact of 29 management factors on udder health in organic dairy farms in Switzerland. All 77 farms joined the extension program ‘pro-Q’. As a measure of udder health the theoretical bulk milk somatic cell count (TBMSCC) calculated by the monthly cow composite somatic cell count over a time period of 1 year was chosen. The basic udder health of the farms was determined by TBMSCC during the year prior to the start of the project (mean for all farms = 176 460 cells/ml). In the multivariable analysis, the five factors ‘swiss brown breed’, ‘alpine summer pasturing’, ‘calf feeding with milk from mastitis diseased cows’, ‘hard bedding’ and ‘no post-milking’ remained as significant risk factors on udder health. In the second part of the study, the development of management factors and the udder health situation affected by an extension program after 1 year was investigated. A partial improvement of the management factors on the farms but no overall improvement on udder health and no association between management changes and udder health changes were found. Improvement of udder health was more likely in farms with higher basic TBMSCC than in those farms with less udder health problems at the beginning of the project.

The limitations of the alkane technique in estimating the diet components of herbivores call for the introduction of new diet composition markers. Recently, long-chain alcohols (alcohols) and long-chain fatty acids (acids) have received the most attention and show great potential, when combined with alkanes, to estimate composition of complex diets. In the current study, faecal recoveries of alcohols and acids were determined in sheep in four different live weight groups fed three herbage species, either Leymus chinensis, L. dasystachys or Elymus sibiricum. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to examine the effects of herbage species and live weight of sheep on faecal recoveries of individual alcohols and acids. Further, an indoor experiment with six sheep fed a diet of equal proportions, on dry matter (DM) basis, of three herbages was performed, allowing to assess the accuracy of alcohols and/or acids in combination with alkanes, to estimate diet composition. A one-sample t-test was carried out to test the accuracy of these estimates. Results of the first experiment indicated that the faecal recoveries of alcohols and acids were significantly affected by herbage species (P < 0.05). While the effects were significant or near significant for the faecal recoveries of some alcohols (C24-ol, C30-ol and C26-ol) (P ⩽ 0.05), no effect of live weight on faecal recoveries of acids was observed (P > 0.05). Therefore, adjustments based on diet-specific faecal recoveries might improve diet composition estimates. This was illustrated by the results of the second experiment. The diet composition estimated from alcohols or all combinations of alcohols with other marker types, after diet-specific correction of faecal recoveries, did not significantly differ from the actual composition (P > 0.05). However, using acids as additional markers resulted in poorer diet composition estimates. This study confirmed the utility of alcohols, combined with alkanes, as markers to estimate composition of complex diets. Although corrections based on mean faecal recoveries, average over animals and diets, resulted in some accuracy loss, results were still satisfactory and better than without recovery correction.

This study examined the relationship of muscular and skeletal scores and ultrasound measurements in the live animal, and carcass conformation and fat scores with carcass composition and value using 336 steers, slaughtered at 2 years of age. Live animal scores and measurements were recorded at 8 to 12 months of age and pre-slaughter. Following slaughter, each carcass was classified for conformation and fatness and the right side dissected into meat, fat and bone. Carcass conformation scores and fat scores were both measured on a continuous 15-point scale and ranged from 2.0 to 12.0 and from 2.8 to 13.3, respectively. Pre-slaughter muscular scores showed positive correlations (P < 0.001) ranging from 0.31 to 0.86 with carcass meat proportion, proportion of high-value cuts in the carcass, conformation score and carcass value, significant negative correlations with carcass fat (r = −0.13) and bone (r = −0.81) proportions, and generally low non-significant relationships with the proportion of high-value cuts in meat and carcass fat score. Pre-slaughter ultrasound muscle depth and carcass conformation score showed similar correlations with carcass traits to those using the pre-slaughter muscular scoring procedure. Pre-slaughter ultrasound fat depth showed positive correlations (P < 0.001) with carcass fat proportion (r = 0.59) and fat score (r = 0.63), and significant negative correlations (−0.23 to −0.50) with carcass meat and bone proportions, high-value cuts in the carcass and in meat, and carcass value. Pre-slaughter skeletal scores generally showed poor correlations ranging from −0.38 to 0.52 with the various carcass traits. Corresponding correlations (−0.26 to 0.44) involving records collected at 8 to 12 months of age were lower than those using pre-slaughter records. A one-unit increase in carcass conformation score increased carcass meat proportion and value by 11.2 g/kg and 5.6 cents/kg, respectively. Corresponding values for fat score were −8.2 g/kg and −5.1 cents/kg. In conclusion, both pre-slaughter live animal scores/measurements and carcass classification scores, explained an appreciable amount of the total variation in carcass meat, fat and bone proportions and carcass value, and a moderate amount of the variation in proportion of high-value meat cuts in the carcass.