European Union Producers will Carry on Castrating

May 4, 2016 — 

Immunocastration is hardly used in most European Union countries, according to a survey by the Federation of Veterinarians of Europe. [Source: NPA News, by Digby Scott, April 30, 2016]

Belgium is the one of the only countries that uses immunocastration to any extent at the moment, according to the survey. Sweden, Slovakia, Spain and Norway do use it, but only in low numbers.

In the survey, Belgium, France, Germany and the Netherlands reported castrating 20-80 percent of male pigs, although the number of entires has increased significantly.

Increased raising of entire males was also reported, but to a smaller degree, by Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Portugal and Switzerland.

Most other countries reported almost no change in the number of male pigs being castrated.

Castration with analgesia has become widely used in many countries in recent years, as a result of welfare issues surrounding pig castration. Respondents from nine countries indicated analgesia is used in their country in more than 50 percent of the cases.

But castration without pain relief was declared still to be common in most countries, where more than 50 percent of male pigs are still castrated without any anaesthesia or analgesia, in violation of a European declaration that promised anaesthesia or analgesia would be used after January 2012.

"The deadline of January 2012 has not been met. We are still far from all castrated piglets being treated with prolonged analgesia and/or anaesthesia," says the Federation of Veterinarians of Europe.

And given the current economic climate, it believes it unlikely traditional pig farmers will cease castration "unless it becomes mandatory in one way or another". • Castration is banned outright in Britain by the leading quality assurance schemes, which account for over 90 percent of all slaughter pigs.