Boars on the Way in cooperation with Pig Progress hosted a webinar on the environmental impact of keeping entire boars. The webinar was broadcast on Thursday, February 23, and can be reviewed in its entirety through www.pigprogress.net. In this webinar, Gé Backus explains the background of the study on the carbon footprint of entire male pigs. In addition, Mathieu Pecqueur explains on behalf of French agricultural cooperative Cooperl how they are dealing with the matter of castration and also well-known pig producer Annechien ten Have-Mellema from the Netherlands is sharing her experiences with raising boars.
The impact of ending castration of entire male pigs in Europe is explained in a two minutes YouTube animation. Ending piglet castration is better for the animal, saves money for the farmers and results in a lower carbon footprint.
Ending piglet castration in the EU results in a lower footprint of in total 4.4 million ton CO2 equivalents per year. Producing boars instead of barrows results in a better feed utilization and thus a lower footprint. The estimated carbon footprint of entire male pigs ranged from 3.57 to 4.00 kg CO2 equivalents per kg live wight, and from 3.93 to 4.28 kg CO2 equivalents per kg live weight for castrated male pigs. This equals to 300.000 ha land use annually saved.
Online surveys were performed with 11,294 consumers from ten EU and four non-EU countries. Four consumer segments were identified: Demanding, Average, Low-on eco, and Indifferent. It is concluded that consumer consumption motives and production preferences are sufficiently similar to include them as communicative elements in marketing strategies for meat from non-castrated pigs.
Retailers and food service operators in Belgium contribute to the ending of surgical castration in various innovative ways. Read their success stories and learn what they did right.
Belgium-based food retail giant launches castration-free pork products
The retailer launched a line of surgical castration-free pork products under its “Better for Everyone” label in June 2018. In promoting this label, the company highlights the benefits of the pig breed used and describes the properties and quality of the meat.
Discount supermarket chain moves to entire males
In 2012, a global retailer’s store chain in Belgium fully transitioned to the sale of meat from entire non-vaccinated pigs.
Supermarket chain adopts immunocastration
The company conducted a trial in 2010 to improve pig welfare by using vaccination against boar taint. It applied the vaccine on approximately 2,600 boars and monitored all production steps from vaccination to meat consumption.
Read more about these retail and food successes to end surgical castration in the PDF below.
Farmers and pork producers in France, Spain and Poland are doing their share to end surgical castration. Read their success stories and learn how they went about it.
Entire males in France
The leading pork producer in France integrates farming, feed manufacturing, slaughtering and meat processing. In 2013, it transitioned to the production of entire males, serving their meat to 13 million consumers each year.
Vaccination protocol to produce cured hams in Spain
In Spain, there are successes to share as well. Farmers in this country vaccinate Iberian pigs against boar taint to produce cured hams. Vaccination has improved profitability and animal welfare while maintaining high product quality.
Polish producer sees impressive results with vaccine
A Polish producer who uses a safe and reliable vaccine has had success slaughtering animals at around 8-9 weeks after the second vaccination. This maximises their revenues.
Read more about these successes to transition away from surgical castration in the PDF below.
The EU Animal Welfare Platform held its ninth meeting on June 22, 2021. One of the topic was alternative methods to surgical pig castration. At the Platform meeting information was provided on educational material supporting the dissemination of best practices in the production, the processing and the marketing of meat from entire male pigs or pigs vaccinated against boar taint.
The education material included twelve factsheets in twenty-four languages and one video addressing the whole production chain in English language and with subtitles in twenty-two languages. USB sticks for dissemination are available.
Themes the educational material focusses on are:
Download here the presentation.
The European Commission produced educational materials to help farmers, meat processors and retailers transitioning away from surgical castration of pigs, including factsheets on ending surgical castration and methods to detect boar taint. The PDF’s below are a schematic representation of both subjects.
In the first PDF, techniques and best practices for slaughterhouses for the detection of boar taint are presented. One of the most successful methods is the human nose method.
In the second PDF, the Commission shares a success story about a leading Dutch slaughterhouse that developed its own boar taint detection technique, based on the human nose method. With over 10 years of experience in producing boar meat, this EU market leader operates in several countries, slaughtering thousands of male pigs each week.