Pig producers considers stopping castration.

 Pig producers considers  stopping  castration.

10 pig producers’ organisations in Western France are considering to stop castrating piglets as from December 31, 2021.

 The organisations represent a respectable part of the country’s producers. The proposal of the 10 organisations is a reaction to a decision by Didier Guillaume, France’s minister for agriculture and food.His aim is to improve animal welfare in France’s pig industry and one of his measures is that, after 2021, castration will only be allowed when anesthetics are applied.


 The intention is that the basis price for pigs will be adjusted. The collectives feel that gilts as well as entire boars will form the reference for pig prices as from 2021.

 The slaughterhouses will become the place for checks whether or not carcasses will have boar taint, these could be detected by sniffing at the slaughter line by humans. Additional costs of these checks will be carried jointly by the pig farms that stopped castrating.

PIG CASTRATION: EXPERT OPINION.

Surgical castration is a painful husbandry procedure performed on piglets within the first week of life to improve meat quality. In the United States alone, approximately 94 million piglets will be castrated on an annual basis.

 Castration of piglets in Nigeria is common procedure on pig farms and the purpose is to remove boar taint from the pork, reduce fighting's within the pens and also hasten growth of the piglets..

 This procedure is carried out at an early stage but analgesic is provided. There is a school of thought advocating castration or no castration, this group wants your take on why you castrate and under what conditions do you castrate.

 Piglet castration is an ambiguous practice – on one side nobody likes it, yet stopping the practice or offering pain relief appears difficult to achieve in many countries. Health and welfare expert Dr Monique Pairis-Garcia and her colleagues at North Carolina State University would like to understand why – and are looking for your experiences and motives.

 Give your reasons, share your views let the international community understand your practice here.

GENE EDITING AND PIG CASTRATION.

GENE EDITING AND PIG CASTRATION. Male piglets used for pork production are routinely castrated to improve the quality of meat for consumers.

Castration gets rid of boar taint, an unpleasant odor and unsavory taste in the meat. For decades, castration has been done surgically. But new breeding technology can produce male piglets that never reach puberty.

 Tad Sonstegard is the chief scientific officer of Acceligen, a company that focuses on genetic improvement in food animals. He says these piglets will come from the company DNA Genetics. "Those males will have had to have been rescued from being infertile, and then they would just breed sows that also had been rescued and the offspring between the breeding of those two rescued genetic lines would result in sterile males and females, we believe," he says.

"Those are what would be sold from the multiplier sites out to the swine producers." The technology will make a piglet’s life a little easier – and the producer’s as well. GENE EDITING AND PIG CASTRATION.

EQUITWISTER AND CASTRATION IN HORSES.

(Equitwister) Castration is common in working horses, both in developed and under developed countries. The procedure is easily handled in the developed countries,with all the tools necessary. The possible post operative complications such as hemorrhaging,swelling , evisceration and infection are taken into considerations and steps are outlined to prevent these or deal with any complication if they arise. The common field practice is the emasculator method, where the spermatic cords are clamped and crushed,the most common complication is hemorrhage. This down side of the procedure has been a major cause of concern,and other methods have evolved over the years. The close castration technique was not so practicable in horses because of the size and contents of the vaginal tunics,as the emasculator could not achieve sufficient crush on the vessels to prevent hemorrhage,thus the Henderson tool was introduced . The Henderson tool uses the clamp technique; this clamp can accommodate the entire cord its then attached to a battery powered drill and the testicles are twisted off.This twisting controls hemorrhage and prevents evisceration. This method is simple, fast with little or no complication,but use is limited because of cost and electricity supply. This led to the innovation of the equitwister by Turner Wilson Equine Consulting, in Elk River, Minnesota. The tool as shown in picture is simple,cheap and easy to use. The equitwister is made of stainless steel rod, PVC pipe, and a crank. It uses a similar approach to the Henderson tool as it twists the spermatic cord, but it’s manual and requires little effort. This is very valuable as it can be used in places where low income earners are a larger percentage of the community.

MANAGING CASTRATION COMPLICATIONS.

There are several potential complications that can arise from castration,these include ; 1) Edema. It is important to note and also explain to the client that there will be an apparent swelling after procedure,its usually obvious about 3-5 days after operation. The swelling should abate within 2 weeks of procedure. The swelling may be so substantial in some cases,hence the following intervention is proposed 1)Exercising the horse. 2) Administering non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs, such as phenylbutazone) .3) Cold-hosing the affected area a few times each day. 2) Hemorrhage ; bleeding from the castration site depends on the severity. If there’s just a slow drip, keep an eye on it but not necessarily intervening right away. Chances are, the blood will clot and the bleeding will stop. When there’s a slow stream of blood, apply a Carmalt clamp—a type of curved forcep—to the bleeding cord or blood vessel and leave it in place for 24 to 48 hours. During that time, the horse should be kept on stall rest because vessels can still bleed following ligation (stitching or tying off). he does not apply sutures. The scrotal incision can be packed on a regular basis to stop bleeding, and its recommended using a continuous gauze (crypt packing) instead of 4x4 gauze, the packing must exert enough pressure to reduce or stop a minor bleed. 3) Prolapse tissue occurs in some cases , tissue in the area of the incision—most commonly the inguinal or abdominal omentum (a fatty yellow tissue that surrounds some of the organs) or inguinal fat—can prolapse through the incision. When this happens the practitioner should examine the tissue closely via palpation and/or ultrasound to ensure the prolapsed tissue does not contain intestines. Then the veterinarian can remove the prolapsed tissue. If intestinal prolapse has occurred, the horse will require immediate general anesthesia to cleanse, replace, and retain the intestines, followed by immediate referral to a surgical facility. An in-depth understanding of pertinent clinical anatomy is very essential, attention to asepsis and surgical technique, and proper postoperative exercise recommendations will minimize the incidence of complications associated with castration.(arterial hemorrhage from the scrotum following improper application of the emasculator during castration.Photo: Courtesy Dr. P.O. Eric Mueller) Read more here;horse.com

Field castration in horses.

Routine equine surgical procedures don’t mean complications can develop. Castration, It’s one of the most common elective surgical procedures performed in the field, but sometimes things go wrong. Veterinarians must be prepared well in advance to manage any postoperative problems, which for gelding can range from mild swelling to devastating intestinal prolapse. Previous studies the researchers reported a complication rate of about 10%, Of those, the vast majority were considered mild, about 20% were considered moderate, and just 3% were considered severe. But severe can mean death in some cases, so knowing how to respond is crucial. Preventing complications is preferable to having to manage them, hence the following tips on castrating was given at the 2015 American Association of Equine Practitioners’ Convention, held Dec. 5-9 in Las Vegas by P.O. Eric Mueller, DVM, PhD, Dipl. ACVS, professor and director of equine programs at the University of Georgia's College of Veterinary Medicine, in Athens, reviewed how practitioners can prevent and manage castration complications in the field.(Read more ; horse.com) 1) First, be familiar with the pertinent reproductive anatomy and how to perform the procedure properly. 2) Get an extensive history on the patient, including any previous surgeries or congenital inguinal hernias especially those the foal was born with in which intestines have burst through the inguinal canal, a natural opening in the body wall of the horse’s groin area, and into the scrotum or tissue around the sheath. 3)Conduct a physical exam prior to surgery, including a thorough evaluation of the horse’s testes and inguinal areas. “The absence of one or both descended testes, a history of congenital inguinal hernia, or abnormal swelling or enlargement of the inguinal ring (there’s one at each end of the inguinal canal) should alert the practitioner to an increased risk of postoperative complications, at which time they should strongly consider referral to a surgery facility,”. 4) Apply the emasculators (a castration tool that cuts through the spermatic cord, crushing the vessels providing blood to the testicles) properly, checking for hemorrhage before releasing the cord after emasculation. 5) Ensure the patient is up-to-date on tetanus vaccination. Following surgery, keep the horse on stall rest for 24 hours to allow for close observation. Horses should have short periods of forced exercise (lunging or trotting, for example) for four to five days to help reduce edema (swelling). Don’t just turn them out in the pasture, as it won’t necessarily ensure the horse will move enough to keep the swelling down.