What I heard from farmer in a farm close to where I live in uk, male pig are harvest at around 65kg. to keep the boar taint under a more acceptable level. While female are taken to a much larger size. It is not that you cannot castrate male piglet what you do need is someone who is certified to do it. It can be a vet or someone who have done to course for it.
You don't have to be certified to do it by EU regulations, here in Sweden any farmer can do it within the piglets' first 7 days of life. You have to give them anesthesia though. I was taught to do it in ag school with the instructor just showing me and then standing behind me as I tried it, no course needed.
i was wondering bout that as i have only raised pigs that were already tail docked, teeth cut,, and castrated,, never done the castration on any livestock as it was done prior to buying them,, thank ya fer the video
It is in no way illegal to surgically castrate piglets in the EU, but nowadays you can't do it without anesthesia. The industry here is starting to move away from it though, or at least that's the impression I've gotten (the EU is extremely varied regarding regulations, I'm from Sweden and things will be very different in Romania or Malta...). Interest in non-surgical methods is increasing, but hormonal treatments are iffy. People and politicians are (rightly) wary of hormones and their effect on the animal, the meat and the consumers.
Well dang. That European castration regulation seems pretty stupid (but, then, I think a lot of the animal "rights" groups are pretty much off in the ozone). We've castrated within 3 weeks; we just don't want to deal with potential sibling breedings. I will ask, however, what you do with herniated scrotums? We've had one sow (American Guinea Hog, 2nd and 3rd litters) throw a couple herniated males in each batch - and, yes, we're culling her. We raised those piglets to about 7-9 months and then harvested them. What do you do with any herniated males your sows birth?
