Boar vaccination: animal-friendly alternative to piglet castration without anesthesia
We, the editors of fleischbranche.de, already 3 days ago about the new decision of the federal government written to the piglet castration. The University of Hohenheim has now published alternatives: Instead of surgical piglet castration: Vaccination against boar taint is the most animal-friendly alternative. The University of Hohenheim is investigating alternatives to the previously common, painful piglet castration without anesthetic: a plea for immunocastration. Two small pricks instead of two painful cuts – the animal-friendly alternative to surgical piglet castration without anesthesia has been around for a long time. In the so-called immunocastration, farmers vaccinate the male piglets in two steps so that at the time of slaughter they are comparable to animals before puberty. But although it is approved and protects the animals, the market is still struggling with the process. Scientists from the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart have been coordinating a Europe-wide research project for over a year that is intended to advance immunocastration so that it becomes more competitive, more environmentally friendly and geared even more towards animal welfare. The Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) is funding the project via the Federal Office for Agriculture and Food (BLE) with a total of almost 1,3 million euros. At the University of Hohenheim, a good 283.000 euros in funding make the project a research focus.
It is currently one of the biggest challenges for pig production in Europe: the previous practice of castrating piglets without any anesthesia is incompatible with today's animal welfare standards. Actually, it should therefore be banned at the end of the year – the Bundestag is still deliberating whether the date will be postponed.
The problem: Those involved do not agree on which alternative method is the most suitable. "The fact is that awareness of the problem has generally increased in Europe," explains Prof. Dr. Volker Stefanski, pig expert at the University of Hohenheim. "And from the point of view of animal welfare, there is a method that best meets the requirements: immunocastration, in which the animals are vaccinated against boar taint." It is available immediately, has been approved for 15 years and is already well established in Belgium, for example spread."
Nevertheless, immunocastration is still hardly practiced in Germany. In order to change that, he and his Hohenheim colleagues, apl. Prof. Dr. Ulrike Weiler, Prof. Dr. Korinna Huber, Prof. Dr. Ludwig Hölzle, the doctoral students Linda Wiesner and Kevin Kress and seven partner institutions from all over Europe how the method can be optimized. Title of the research project: SuSI - an abbreviation for "Sustainability in Pork Production with Immunocastration".
Not in line with animal welfare: Boar fattening, castration under general and local anesthesia
All other alternatives do not represent any real benefit from an animal welfare point of view, confirms Prof. Dr. Hamlet. "When fattening uncastrated boars, the unpleasant boar odor that some boar meat has is just one of the problems," explains the expert. “Without castration, the animals show much more aggressive behavior. Penis biting in particular is widespread: around one in ten animals suffers serious injuries, often more painful than surgical castration.”
In the case of castration under general anesthesia, on the other hand, it is not only the high costs that are a problem: "With gas anesthesia, around one fifth of the animals do not have proper anesthesia," explains Prof. Dr. Hamlet. “In addition, the piglets only have little energy reserves and have to drink every half hour. So they miss meals and become weakened as a result. In addition, there is an increased risk that they will be crushed by their mother.”
She is also critical of the often advocated local anesthetic by the farmer himself: “The anesthetic itself is painful and not easy to administer, even for veterinarians. So not only is the method unreliable, it can actually cause the animals more stress than previous practice.”
Immunocastration: uncertainty and lack of market acceptance
According to the researchers, immunocastration is therefore the method of choice. The boar receives two vaccinations that stimulate the immune system to form antibodies against endogenous hormones. After the second vaccination, hormone production stops and the onset of puberty is delayed. The cost is around 2,50 euros per injection, and the farmer can do it himself. "Actually, the method serves consumer protection and animal welfare alike," says Prof. Dr. Stefanski.
He sees the fact that it has hardly been practiced in Germany so far, above all in the lack of market acceptance, because retailers and slaughterhouses have so far mostly rejected the products. "The process also means a change in the production chain," explains Prof. Dr. Stefanski. “Now the piglet producer does the castration, but the immunocastration takes place later. The work step and the costs are therefore transferred to the fattener - and this change brings with it uncertainty. "
In the SuSI research project, the researchers now want to further optimize all three pillars of sustainability - economy, environment and social aspects - in immune castration: It should become more competitive and environmentally friendly and take animal welfare and thus the wishes of consumers into account as well as possible.
Immunocastration should be standard method
"We can already say that immunocastration performs better than the other methods in many respects," reports Prof. Dr. Stefanski. "The environmental balance is already better and the animals are normal with regard to stomach ulcers, which suggests little stress."
According to the expert, the immune castrates show significantly less aggressive behavior overall. “They also hardly ride on their pen mates and hardly dig out. Injuries caused by biting the penis are therefore rare.” In short: according to the current state of knowledge, immunocastration is reliable and brings about a positive change in behavior. "The procedure should therefore be standard in the future."
Research project examines ecological, economic and social aspects
At the University of Hohenheim, the focus is primarily on animal welfare. At the Unterer Lindenhof research station, the scientists are testing a total of around 140 pigs – uncastrated boars, immunocastrates and classically castrated animals.
Some of the animals live under conditions that correspond to ecological husbandry, while others are kept under conventional but stable conditions. Finally, the third part is kept as it is often done in practice: Conventional housing, but with relocation after immunization - whereby the changed group composition represents a stress factor for the animals.
The research team uses various factors to determine how this affects the animals. They observe how aggressive and sexual behavior changes. They take blood samples to check for the presence of antibodies after immunization that suppress male sex hormones and to determine whether individual behavior correlates with hormone levels.
After the animals have been slaughtered, Hohenheim veterinarians Prof. Dr. Ludwig Hölzle and Prof. Dr. Korinna Huber examined intestinal health and the composition of microorganisms in the intestines of animals. They check for stomach ulcers and send samples to partner institutions: the Slovenian partners examine the meat using sensors, while faecal samples go to the Belgian partner for the environmental balance.
By the end of the project in August 2020, the project partners want to gain insights into the nutrition of the immunocastrates, they want to achieve an even better environmental balance with less nitrogen excretion and a better greenhouse gas balance. Their goal is to improve the economics of the process, examine consumer acceptance and ensure high product quality.
BACKGROUND to the experimental animals used
Fatty hybrids (Pietrain / German Landrace) are used in the SuSI project. The animals are bred by the Unterer Lindenhof, the research station of the University of Hohenheim. At the age of around six months, the animals, like their peers from normal fattening farms, are brought to slaughter. It takes place at the Boxberg Education and Knowledge Center (LSZ State Institute for Pig Breeding).
According to the laboratory animal report from 2017, pigs were the third most common laboratory animal at the University of Hohenheim after chickens (237 animals) and house mice (4.705 animals) with 603 animals.
BACKGROUND: Project Sustainable Pork Production with Immunocastrats (SuSI)
The SuSI research project started on September 1.9.2017st, 31.8.2020 and will run until August 283.179st, 1.293.000. The Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) is funding it via the Federal Office for Agriculture and Food (BLE) at the University of Hohenheim with XNUMX euros, the total funding amount is XNUMX euros.
The University of Hohenheim coordinates the project. Cooperation partners are:
- Institute for Agricultural and Fisheries Research (Belgium),
- French National Institute for Agricultural Research (France),
- Kmetijski institut SLovenije = Agricultural Institute of Slovenia (Slovenia),
- University of Ljubljana-Veterinary Faculty (Slovenia),
- SEGES Pig Research Center (Denmark),
- Warsaw University of Life Sciences (Poland),
- Wageningen University (Netherlands).
Website: https://susi.uni-hohenheim.de/
BACKGROUND: Research heavyweights
Scientists from the University of Hohenheim acquired 33,1 million euros in third-party funding in 2017 for research and teaching. In loose succession, the series “Heavyweights in Research” presents outstanding research projects with a financial volume of at least 250.000 euros for research using equipment or 125.000 euros for non-equipment research.
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