Abstract
Simple SummaryPhysical castration (PC) of piglets is a painful and stressful procedure and alternatives are being sought to improve animal well-being, such as immunological castration (IC). However, IC requires injections which may also cause pain and stress during handling. In this study, piglets and finishing pigs were placed in the following treatment groups: no handling or treatment (NO), sham-handling (SHAM), intramuscular injection (IM), subcutaneous injection (SQ), or PC on piglets only. Behavior was monitored for 1 h prior and 1 h post treatment in each age group. Social behavior and feeding behavior, and signs of pain were recorded. Physical castration caused measurable pain-like behaviors and general behavioral dysregulation at a much higher level than changes associated with handling associated with IM or SQ injections. Overall, injections did not cause a change in weaning pig behaviors. Finishing pigs given SQ injections showed a lower number of feeding behaviors post treatment but other changes were not observed in the other treatment groups.Physical castration (PC) is painful and stressful for nursing piglets. One alternative to PC is immunological castration (IC), but the pain and stress of handling associated with injections have not been assessed. The objectives of this study were to measure the pain and distress of subcutaneous (SQ) and intramuscular (IM) injections compared to PC in piglets, and to compare SQ or IM injections in finishing pigs. After farrowing, 3 to 5 d old male piglets were randomly assigned to (control) no handling treatment (NO), sham-handling (SHAM), IM, SQ, or PC. Finishing pigs were assigned to NO, SHAM, IM, or SQ. Behavior was monitored for 1 h prior and 1 h post treatment in each age group. Social, feeding behaviors, and signs of pain were recorded. Finishing pigs treated with SQ injections had higher feeding behaviors pre-treatment than they did post-treatment. Overall, physical castrations caused measurable pain-like behaviors and general behavioral dysregulation at a much higher level than the other treatment groups. SQ and IM injections did not cause either significant behavioral or physiological alterations in piglets. SQ injections caused a decrease in finishing pig feed behaviors post treatment (p = 0.02) and SHAM treated finishing pigs spent significantly more time lying than the other treatment groups. In general IM and SQ injections did not cause any other significant changes in behavior or physiology.
Highlights
Physical castration (PC) of male piglets early in life is a common management practice on commercial swine farms in the U.S PC is performed primarily to reduce the accumulation of boar taint compounds, aggressive behavior in post-pubertal male pigs, and undesirable pregnancy in co-housed females at slaughter; consumer attitude toward PC is becoming increasingly negative due to the known pain and distress caused by the procedure [1,2,3,4]
Attempts to reduce this discomfort by use of local or general anesthetics have been insufficient to date [1,2,3] and effective drugs have not been approved for the use in pigs in the U.S One alternative to PC is the immunological castration (IC) of male pigs [5]
SQ and IM injections did not cause any measurable changes in behavior nor physiology of piglets
Summary
Physical castration (PC) of male piglets early in life is a common management practice on commercial swine farms in the U.S PC is performed primarily to reduce the accumulation of boar taint compounds, aggressive behavior in post-pubertal male pigs, and undesirable pregnancy in co-housed females at slaughter; consumer attitude toward PC is becoming increasingly negative due to the known pain and distress caused by the procedure [1,2,3,4]. In finishing pigs (when IC would take place), a sham or saline injection was used as a control to compare SQ or IM injections
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