Hormonal profiles, behavioral responses, and short-term growth performance after castration of pigs at three, six, nine, or twelve days of age1,2

Carroll, J. A.; Berg, Elijah; Strauch, T. A.; Roberts, Mary P.; Kattesh, H. G.

doi:10.2527/2006.8451271x

Cited by 65 publications

(85 citation statements)

References 20 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…None of the other behaviors measured were affected by castration treatment. These results are similar to Carroll et al (2006) who did not observe any behavioral difference in piglets in response to castration for up to 2 h after castration.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

“…Previous studies have shown that surgical castration can cause physiological and behavioral changes in piglets indicative of acute distress (McGlone et al, 1993;White et al, 1995;Haga and Ranheim, 2005;Prunier et al, 2005;Carroll et al, 2006). Until a practical alternative to surgical castration is developed, there is a need to develop practical on-farm pain relief for piglets during castration.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Surgical castration causes an increase in cortisol concentrations in piglets for up to 120 min after castration (Prunier et al, 2005;Carroll et al, 2006;Moya et al, 2008). In this study, castration caused elevated cortisol concentrations in piglets for up to 120 min after this procedure was performed.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, the procedure of surgical castration causes acute pain-induced distress, which is an animal welfare concern (McGlone et al, 1993;Prunier et al, 2005;Carroll et al, 2006). Negative public perception concerning castration without the use of analgesics or anesthetics is increasing (Giersing et al, 2006;Svendsen, 2006 include slaughtering pigs before they reach sexual maturity (Dunshea et al, 2001), using immunocastration techniques, sperm sexing for selection of female offspring and genetic selection for pigs with low levels of boar taint.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Physiology and behavior of pigs before and after castration: effects of two topical anesthetics

Sutherland

Davis

Brooks

et al. 2010

Animal

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Surgical castration of male piglets is a common management practice conducted on commercial swine farms to prevent the occurrence of boar taint and aggressive behavior. However, the procedure of surgical castration causes acute pain-induced distress, which is an animal welfare concern. The objective of this study was to evaluate the use of two topical anesthetics to alleviate the pain caused by castration in piglets as measured by physiological and behavior indices of stress. At 3 days of age, 40 weight-matched piglets were allocated to one of four treatment groups. Treatments included: (i) sham castration (CON), (ii) surgical castration (CAS), (iii) castration and short-acting local anesthetic applied topically to the castration wound (SHORT) and (iv) castration and long-acting local anesthetic applied topically to the castration wound (LONG). Blood samples were collected from piglets before and 30, 60, 120 and 180 min after castration to measure leukocyte and differential counts and cortisol concentrations. The above experiment was repeated without blood collection and behavior was recorded for 30 min before and 180 min after castration or handling. Stress vocalizations were recorded during castration and handling. All piglets were weighed before and 24 h after castration and wound healing was recorded daily for the first 14 days after castration. Leukocyte counts and differentials did not differ ( P . 0.05) among any of the treatments. Cortisol concentrations were elevated ( P , 0.06) in CAS, SHORT and LONG piglets compared with controls 30 and 60 min after castration. The percentage of stress vocalizations was greater ( P , 0.05) among castrated piglets compared with CON piglets, regardless of anesthetic treatment. Piglets that were castrated and not given a topical anesthetic spent more time ( P , 0.05) lying without contact compared with piglets castrated and given a topical anesthetic, regardless of the topical anesthetic administered. Body weight change did not differ ( P . 0.05) among treatments 24 h after castration or control handling and wound healing scores were greater ( P , 0.05) in SHORT compared with CAS and LONG piglets 9 to 14 days after castration. In this study, the use of a short-or long-acting topical anesthetic was not effective in reducing the pain-induced distress caused by castration in piglets. Further research is needed to evaluate alternative practical methods to reduce the pain caused by the on-farm castration of piglets.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Physiology and behavior of pigs before and after castration: effects of two topical anesthetics

Sutherland

Davis

Brooks

et al. 2010

Animal

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…As welfare topics become increasingly important, the scrutinising of these procedures must not be neglected. Several studies have evaluated castration and tail docking and the impact that these procedures have on the welfare of the piglets (Von Borell et al, 2009;Sutherland and Tucker, 2011), their physiological and behavioural responses (Zöls et al, 2006;Llamas Moya et al, 2008;Torrey et al, 2009), the economic consequences and alternative methods (Carroll et al, 2006;Kilchling, 2010;Sutherland et al, 2012). However, very few studies have evaluated the impact of ear tagging on pig welfare and none have compared the relative distress caused by ear tagging with other painful husbandry procedures (castration and tail docking) or examined the effect of analgesia.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ear tagging in piglets: the cortisol response with and without analgesia in comparison with castration and tail docking

Numberger¹,

Ritzmann²,

Übel³

et al. 2016

Animal

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The objectives of the present study were to compare the cortisol response caused by ear tagging piglets with the distress caused by other known painful husbandry procedures (e.g. castration and tail docking) and to evaluate the effectiveness of analgesia with meloxicam to reduce the cortisol response caused by these procedures. In total, 210 male piglets were randomised to equal numbers (n = 30) into one of seven groups: a control group which was only handled (H), an ear tagged group that received no analgesia (ET), an ear tagged group with analgesia (ETM), a castration group with no analgesia (C), a castration group with analgesia (CM), a tail-docked group with no analgesia (TD) and a tail-docked group with analgesia (TDM). The procedures were carried out on day 3 or 4 after farrowing. Five blood samples were taken from each piglet: 30 min before the respective procedure (baseline value), and 30, 60 min, 4 and 7 h after processing, to assess cortisol concentrations. Means as well as the area under the curve (AUC) value were analysed and the effective sizes of the procedures were established. At 7 h after the experimental treatment, cortisol concentrations had returned to base values in all groups. ET evoked a greater cortisol response than H piglets at 30 min (P < 0.001) and 60 min (P = 0.001). The cortisol response to ET was lower than C at 30 min (P = 0.001) but did not differ significantly at the other sample times. The mean cortisol response was similar between ET and TD piglets over all sample times. Taking both intensity and duration of the cortisol response into account (AUC), ET evoked a greater response than TD. Analgesia (ETM) resulted in significantly lower cortisol levels than ET at 30 and 60 min post-procedure. Castration (C) provoked the highest cortisol response of all procedures; a significant analgesic effect (CM) was shown only at 4 h post-procedure. TD resulted in significantly higher cortisol levels than H piglets only at 30 min; analgesia (TDM) significantly reduced the cortisol response at 30 min. We conclude that ear tagging causes a dramatic increase in cortisol levels compared with handling alone in piglets, which suggests that this procedure causes substantial distress. However, further research is needed to confirm these results.

show abstract

Ethical Citizenship

Forkman¹

2012

Veterinary &Amp; Animal Ethics

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Hormonal profiles, behavioral responses, and short-term growth performance after castration of pigs at three, six, nine, or twelve days of age1,2

Cited by 65 publications

References 20 publications

Physiology and behavior of pigs before and after castration: effects of two topical anesthetics

Physiology and behavior of pigs before and after castration: effects of two topical anesthetics

Ear tagging in piglets: the cortisol response with and without analgesia in comparison with castration and tail docking

Ethical Citizenship

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About