In pig farming, piglets are castrated very early (within the first week) – mostly without anaesthesia. This is extremely painful for the animals. The reasons for castration are both to avoid the unpleasant boar taint in the meat and to reduce the aggression and sexual behaviour of adult male pigs, thus making the animals easier to handle.¹ Boar taint occurs extremely rarely and only when the meat is heated. The affected meat can be sorted out at the slaughterhouse and processed cold, for example as sausages.^2,3

The reason why it is not legally required for pig to be anesthetised during surgical castration, but dogs and cats do, is simply due to the costs of anaesthesia. Castrations without anaesthesia are allowed be carried out by the farmer themselves, whereas anaesthesia must (usually) be administered by a veterinarian. The veterinary costs saved by omitting anaesthesia make the production of cheap pork even more efficient – at the expense of the animals.

In the European Union, surgical castration without anaesthesia or analgesia is allowed within the first days of life of the piglets. After that, the use of analgesic medicines including narcotics, administered by a veterinarian, is mandatory.⁴ In 2010 a European Declaration of Alternatives to Pig Castration proposed that by 2012, surgical castration should not be performed without the use of medication and by 2018, surgical castration itself should be abolished and alternative methods should be used. For this to happen, several prerequisites should have been achieved, such as developing successful and quick methods of detecting boar taint and developing information and training of farmers and other members of the whole pork chain. But these goals were not achieved by 2018 and conventional surgical castration without anesthesia and without pain relief is still widespread across the European Union.⁵

Since 1 January, 2021, castration of piglets without anaesthesia has finally been banned in Germany. Anaesthesia can be administered either by injection by a veterinarian or by inhalation by persons with the appropriate certificate of competence and must be supplemented by the administration of painkillers. However, the use of anaesthetics by persons other than (veterinary) doctors should be viewed critically.  

There are some countries that do not or only to a certain percentage perform surgical castration of pigs and rather prefer keeping of intact males, like the UK, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, or Greece.⁵

There are more animal-friendly alternatives such as boar fattening or immuno-castration (vaccination against boar taint)¹, as well as genetic castration⁶, all of which do not involve surgical castration. Surgery with general anaesthesia is also an acceptable alternative if castration cannot be avoided.¹ However, it is crucial that only the veterinarians are allowed to put this anaesthetic on. The pig industry is still lobbying for local anesthesia, which would be cheaper for farmers. However, this is not an alternative, as it is extremely painful for the animals and is not efficient in alleviating pain and distress.¹

Read more about the alternatives to non-anesthetised piglet castration.