Probably any person who has not even encountered pig farming has heard of castration of boars. This is an important procedure that allows you to comprehensively solve several problems at once. Therefore, it will be useful to everyone to know about it.
What is castration?
Another name for castration is cooling. The purpose of the procedure is either the complete removal of the sex glands, or the suspension of their activity.
Today, there are several different ways of castration of boars: mechanical, chemical, hormonal and radioactive. However, it was mechanical that was most widely used. A little later, we will talk about its main advantages that make it so popular.
Why is it carried out
In some cases, castration is performed for medical reasons. For example, if a hernia appears, the testes become inflamed, or another pathology occurs. However, in most cases, the goals of castration are completely different. There are several of them.
The most important thing is to get quality meat. The fact is that the meat of a sexually mature boar that has not undergone castration has a persistent unpleasant odor. It does not disappear even after processing, making the meat almost inedible.
In addition, castration makes it possible to increase the rate of weight gain. The pig grows faster, grows a thicker layer of tender fat, for which these animals are appreciated.
Aggressively decreases. This is especially important in cases when in one room contains a large number of animals. Non-neutered boars often start fights, during which they can inflict serious injuries on weaker individuals requiring additional care and treatment. Castrated behave much calmer, good-natured, problems with them usually do not exist.
Sexual arousal of mature piglets leads to the fact that every month, during estrus in pigs, wild boars experience special excitement, are very worried, lose their appetite, which leads to loss of weight gain.
Finally, if pigs of both sexes are kept together, uncastrated boars, for some reason not suitable for reproduction, can impregnate breeding or commercial sows, which is unacceptable.
Normal castration allows you to completely solve all these problems.
Optimal timing
According to pig specialists, it is best to carry out the castration procedure for piglets feeding milk. That is, the optimal age is 10-40 days. At this time, the risk of complications, as well as sudden blood loss, is much lower.
Feeding on mother’s milk, they receive all the necessary antibodies that allow them to quickly heal the wounds left after castration. Loss of blood in small piglets is much less.
In addition, it is much easier to securely fix the monthly piglet for the operation than the one-year-old.
However, in some cases it becomes necessary to castrate large boars. It is also possible - in fact, age no longer makes a big difference, because the procedure can be performed at any time. The main thing is that by the time of slaughter, hormones that degrade the taste of meat are completely eliminated. But be prepared for the fact that even after castration, an adult boar remains quite aggressive - it is not worth keeping it in one pen with weaker individuals, as it will be dangerous for them.
The benefits of mechanical castration
The main advantage of mechanical castration is simplicity and cheapness. Indeed, all that is needed for the operation is a few fairly primitive tools and an experienced veterinarian or farmer. Piglet does not need to be taken anywhere, which is especially important in cases when you need to castrate an adult boar.
The entire procedure from an experienced specialist takes minutes. Thus, even working with several dozen piglets, he will be able to complete the task in a few hours. Of course, this is much more convenient and profitable than spending a few working days on freezing a small herd.
It is important that the intervention in the body is minimal. It certainly does not reduce the quality of meat, and the finished product is guaranteed not to harm the consumer.
Pros and Cons of Chemical Castration
For some time, chemical castration of boars was popular. It would seem - it is really convenient and simple. The veterinarian or even the owner who has experience with injections will spend the whole procedure without much difficulty. Moreover, it is suitable for both small piglets and adult boars, which are usually scary to approach. It is enough to put one injection and you can refuse painful, bloody mechanical castration. Why didn’t they switch to it completely, and now more and more farmers are abandoning the chemical method, returning to the old one, checked by grandfathers?
It is worth starting with the fact that, despite the assurances of veterinarians and manufacturers of the drug, not all people believe in its complete safety. Indeed, although laboratory tests did not reveal any side effects, no one can say whether the use of such meat will negatively affect human health afterwards.
In addition, mechanical castration is carried out only once. The chemical must be repeated at least once a month to exclude the possibility of sex hormones entering the animal’s blood.
Finally, the cost of the drugs is quite high. Each dose costs several hundred rubles. It would seem that not too much. But you have to give an injection every month, and if the farm has at least a few dozen goals, then the amount is already very serious.
Training
To begin with, it is worth noting that the interval between castration and any other intervention, for example, vaccination, should be at least 2 weeks. Otherwise, individually harmless preparations can give a very unexpected and unpleasant effect.
Animals must be inspected, checked. They must have a good appetite, be active, cheerful, mobile. Sluggish, loss of appetite should be shown to the veterinarian to identify and eliminate a possible disease.
It is advisable to carry out the operation early in the morning. Then the owner will have at his disposal the whole day to observe the animals that have undergone castration - this is very important, as it sometimes allows you to identify deviations and take timely measures that save the life of the pig.
The surface on which the operation will be carried out must be cleaned, disinfected, and carefully examined. There should not be any neoplasms, omentums, dirt on it.
The veterinarian himself is undergoing some training. He should always have clean, short-cropped nails. Hands should be thoroughly washed with soap and then treated with special disinfectants. Only after this, immediately before the start of the operation, he puts on surgical gloves and gets to work.
If you have to work with a large piglet, you have to use additional means for immobilization - this will protect both the animal and the people around it. It is best to use a special machine. But such are not available in every household. Therefore, experienced farmers know how to tie a boar for castration. Strong and fairly thick cord (thin can damage the skin) hind legs are fixed. Then the cord is tied around the chest and passed through the mouth. With the correct tying of the pig, it is easy to tumble to the side, it can hardly move its hind legs, which means that the operation will take place without unnecessary complications. Of course, local anesthesia is used.
Less experienced veterinarians prefer castration of boars under general anesthesia. It is really much easier - the animal lies on a clean floor, the body is limp, does not move at all. But in this case, more expensive drugs are spent, in addition, there is always the risk of cardiac arrest in the animal, albeit very small.
Castration of Piglets
There are quite a few ways of piglet holing: the optimal one is chosen by the veterinarian, depending on the circumstances, the age of the animal.
For example, if you have to work with small pigs at the age of 2-3 weeks, it is best to use a clipping of the spermatic cord - the procedure is performed even without anesthesia. To do this, the operation area is cleaned of bristles, processed with a solution. The testis is grabbed with the left hand, the skin of the scrotum is pulled and two cuts are performed - on the sides of the suture, about 1 centimeter. The testis is exposed and twisted several times so that it is completely separated. Then the wound is sutured and treated.
Work with an adult boar
Castration of an adult boar causes a bit more problems.
The wild boar is fixed in a convenient position, the surgical site is being processed, local anesthesia is performed - most often with novocaine solution. The skin from the scrotum is folded and dissected. You need to be very careful not to damage vital areas.
The testis is captured along with the vaginal membrane (yes, males have one), the skin gently moves upward. Then the membrane together with the testis are turned around its axis by 360 degrees, a ligature is applied. It is very important to observe the minimum distance to the inguinal ring. It remains only to bandage the spermatic cord and cut along with the intercepted membrane. The distance to the dressing should be about 1 centimeter.
The wound is sutured, treated.
As you can see, the procedure is not easy. Nevertheless, castration of a boar in an open way is one of the most popular, safe and effective.
Care after surgery
For 4-5 days, you need to pay maximum attention to the neutered animal. Watch - if there are any deviations in the behavior. If there is severe swelling, noticeable redness, you should contact your veterinarian as soon as possible so that he takes appropriate measures.
The room for the newly castrated animals should be as clean as possible. It is advisable to use straw or hay as litter, rather than sawdust - small particles can get into the wound and cause infection. It is not necessary to make any changes to the diet. However, it is likely that in the first day or two the piglet's appetite will decrease.
The gap between castration and slaughter
Many farmers are seriously interested in the question: "How much after castration can a boar be cut?" With small pigs, this question does not arise. But it is advisable to let adult boars go to the slaughter no earlier than two months later. In some cases, when the animal is already quite old - 3-5 years old - you need to wait up to six months. During this time, hormones are completely removed from the body. The meat will become completely edible, although it will be inferior in taste to the meat of young animals.
Conclusion
Now you know more about castration of large boars, different methods, advantages and disadvantages. So, without difficulty you can, if you do not carry out the operation yourself, then at least take care of the animal after an unpleasant procedure.