Document type : dossier published by LIT Ouesterel
Author : LIT Ouesterel
Presentation : Why is castration practiced in pig farming?
Castrating animals makes farmiing easier but it also makes it possible to produce meat of the quality expected by consumers. This practice thus shapes the French pork production process [...] Changing a practice that has such an impact on the entire chain of production therefore requires discussion with all those involved, from the producer to the consumer. [...] For this reason, with the assistance of the Brittany Chamber of Agriculture, the LIT OUESTEREL Association appointed project manager Morgane Leroux to coordinate a co-production project in 2021 involving farmers, abattoir workers, butchers, distributors, consumers and researchers specializing in animal welfare. Its purpose was to pool knowledge on the advantages and constraints of known alternatives and to identify ways to improve how they are put into practice. All this took place in a context that encouraged participants to listen to each other. [...]Six issues identified, twenty action pathways to deal with them.
Six issues emerged from this consultation, along with possible pathways to take them into account. To solve the problems, participants jointly came up with possible actions that could be carried out on different scales by any stakeholder. These courses of action can be found in the documents below. A LIT OUESTEREL and its members chose to focus on 4 of the pathways and worked on them in the course of 2022.
Taking action:
- Eureden, IFIP and ONIRIS are developing a new protocol for piglet castration
- The LIT OUESTEREL association is collecting good practices for the management of whole males
- Le Verre Fluoré is developing a device to detect carcasses with boar taint
- The LIT OUESTEREL association is conducting a study on the acceptability of immunocastration.
Information sheets on these new initiatives can be found at the bottom of thisthis page. If you would like to find out more, you can also contact us.
