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Animal Welfare initiatives Pain management

Arrêt de la castration à vif : la pression monte

By June 11th 2021June 29th, 2021No Comments

Document type : article published in Réussir Porc

Author: F. Jourdain

Preview: The French farmers' group " for Animal Welfare and non castration" continues to take action to influence the contents of the decree prohibiting live castration. It is seeking to have a clause inserted by the Government stating that an exemption must be granted for castration to be carried out.

As the date approaches when the Minister of Agriculture, Julien Denormandie, will sign the ministerial instruction specifying the terms for the application of the decree that will bring a halt to the practice of non-anaesthetised piglet castration from 1 January next, the farmers' group " for Animal Welfare and non-castration" is urging farmers to write to the Government to ensure that non-castration is the rule in the future and castration with anaesthesia the exception.

The letter has been sent to all Breton pig farmers, via the Union des groupements, the association's leaders told the membership at its general meeting on 1 June in Lampaul-Guimiliau. "We hope that 5,000 of the 15,000 French pig farmers will contact the Minister," said Jean-Jacques Riou, President of the association, whose members are largely from the Finistère peninsular and members of Evel'Up, Eureden, Porc Armor Évolution and Porelia.

They are asking of the Minister that his instruction should 'authorise exemption from the piglet castration ban only if it is absolutely necessary and follows the protocols agreed between producers, representative groups and slaughterhouses formally overseen by veterinarians representing the farmers'. In other words, 'for specific needs: red labels, dry-cured ham production, etc.', explains Jean-Jacques Riou, the group's President.

The former head of the Marché du Porc Breton and his colleagues on the board know that the game is far from won. Setting aside Cooperl - the non-castration of pigs will affect more than 80% of the cooperative group's 5.7 million pigs - "we are up against the combined force of the abattoirs," admits Jean-Jacques Riou. This is why we need the government's help. Without it, it will be complicated."

For the association, continuing castration, even with anaesthesia, will constrain the actions of producers committed to advancing "animal welfare" and will expose them to the ire of welfarist associations. It will also have a definite economic impact. It calculates that it costs 10 euros less to produce an uncastrated male than a castrated one. The consumption index for uncastrated males is 0.15 lower on average - a gain of 5 euros per head for feed at 275 euros/ton -, technical added value improves (2.5 centimes/kilo or 2 euros per pig) and productivity is higher (another 2 euros per pig).

And there are also the costs of anaesthesia and analgesia (1 to 2 euros per head). "If abattoirs only want castrated pigs, they will have to pay farmers not just the costs of anaesthesia but also for loss of earnings," warns Jean-Jacques Riou. Jean-Loup Le Gall, a fellow-member of the board, fears that in the long term the French pig industry will have to back down in the face of competition from cheaper imported uncastrated pigs, particularly from Spain.

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