Pig Castration and its Alternatives

Table of Contents

1. What this is about, who it is by and who it is for
   1. Orientation
   2. Aims and objectives
2. Introductory Quiz
3. Extent of pig production in the EU
4. Pig Castration in the EU
   1. Extent of Pig Castration in the EU
   2. How the prevalence of castration varies in different EU countries
   3. Proportion of pigs castrated across the countries of the EU
5. Consequences of raising entire male pigs
   1. What is boar taint and what causes it?
   2. Compounds related to boar taint
   3. Factors related to the presence of boar taint compounds.
   4. How boar taint compounds are perceived by consumers
   5. Anosmia
6. Methods of Pig Castration
7. Alternatives to Castration
   1. Production only of entire (uncastrated) males
   2. Production only of females / Spermatic selection
   3. Immunocastration
   4. Castration with anaesthesia and analgesia
   5. Summary of advantages and disadvantages of alternative methods
8. Attitudes of producers and consumers towards pig production methods
   1. Attitudes of the producers
   2. Attitudes of consumers
9. Summary and Post Tutorial Test
10. For more information
    1. References

Orientation

What is this tutorial about?

This tutorial will give you an overview of pig castration in Europe, the reasons for it and alternative approaches.

Who is it for?

This material is intended for, veterinarians, meat technologists, pig sector (producers, slaughterhouses, meat industries, etc.), and consumer organisations.

How long will it take?

The tutorial should take approximately 30 - 40 minutes to work through, depending on how far you would like to go. However, you do not need to finish the whole tutorial at a single sitting - you can come back to it any time.

How to use the material

Questions with feedback have been provided throughout this tutorial:

• in an introductory quiz - to help you refresh your existing knowledge of this subject
• within sections - to encourage active reading and give you confidence that you have correctly understood the material
• in a post tutorial quiz - to enable you to review what you have learned.

The questions are not there to test your knowledge, but to encourage you to engage actively with the material and so help you remember more. If you have no idea about the answer to a question, then just have a guess. None of your answers are recorded or results collated, and you can try questions as many times as you like. Feedback is provided to help you learn more effectively and to make the tutorial more interesting.

You can choose to work through the tutorial sequentially or jump to sections that interest you.