In pig farming, piglets are castrated very early – usually without anesthesia. This is extremely painful for the animals. Castration is justified by the fact that unpleasant boar odor in the meat should be prevented. However, boar taint occurs extremely rarely and only when heating the meat. Meat with a bad odor can be sorted out at the slaughterhouse and processed cold, for example as sausage.
Piglets are castrated when they are just a few days old without anesthesia.
The reason why pigs are not required to be anesthetized for surgical castration, but dogs and cats are, is solely because of the costs incurred for anesthesia. Neutering without anesthesia may be performed by the farmer himself, while anesthesia may only be administered by a veterinarian. The savings in veterinary costs due to the omission of an anesthetic make the production of cheap pork even more efficient – at the expense of the animals.
From January 1st, 2019, the castration of piglets without anesthesia is to be banned in Germany. Beyond this ban, however, there will probably be no specific specifications as to which stunning methods are permitted and which are not. However, this is important because some stunning methods, for example, have too little stunning effect or are associated with great stress for the animals when used.
There are more animal-friendly alternatives such as boar fattening or vaccination against boar taint, which do not involve surgical castration. General anesthesia is also an acceptable alternative if castration cannot be avoided. Here, however, it is crucial that only the veterinarian is allowed to administer this anesthetic. The pig industry is still hoping for the legalization of a local anesthetic, the so-called «4th way», which could be carried out by animal owners themselves and would therefore be inexpensive. However, the 4th way is not an alternative as it is extremely painful for the animals.
From January 1st, 2019, the castration of piglets without anesthetic should actually be banned in Germany. The ban had been in place since 2013, giving the industry a transitional period of 5 years. Shortly before the end of the period, the grand coalition pushed back the ban by another 2 years on November 28th, 2018, so that piglets can still be castrated without any anesthesia until the end of 2020. Here you can find out more about the debate in the German Bundestag and the voting results of the individual members of parliament.
The reason given for this change in the law to the detriment of the animals was that the existing alternatives to castration without anesthetic could not yet be adequately implemented in practice. However, with castration under anesthesia, immunocastration and young bull fattening, there are applicable and practicable alternatives. This was stated by the federal government itself in a 2016 report. However, neither the federal government nor the representatives of the pig farmers have made sufficient efforts in the past five years to put the existing alternatives into practice. Instead, they waited until just before the deadline to decide at the last minute to extend the deadline by another two years.
Several very clear decisions in the Federal Council to maintain the ban were ignored. The federal government has made itself the henchman of the agricultural lobby and once again put economic interests ahead of animal welfare. Many retail chains have now announced that they will only accept meat from pigs that have not been castrated or that have been castrated using anesthesia.
In the meantime, the anesthetic isoflurane has also been approved for the anesthetic of pigs. Anesthetics must legally be administered by a veterinarian. However, in order to establish a solution that is as cheap as possible for piglet producers, the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture has now launched a draft regulation that should also enable animal keepers to carry out general anesthesia with isoflurane on the piglets themselves. , together with other animal welfare organizations, is clearly opposed to this, as anesthetics should not be in the hands of laypeople. Read our statement here, which we sent to the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture on February 21, 2019.