ReviewAnimals : an open access journal from MDPI2020
Welfare Aspects of Raising Entire Male Pigs and Immunocastrates.
Review in Animals : an open access journal from MDPI, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 39 citations in OpenAlex.
- Coated Bacterial Vaccine Platform Overcomes Weak Antigen Immunogenicity: A Functional Approach to GnRH-Based Immunocastration.Biotechnology journal · 2026Article
- Quality of Meat and Fat from Immunocastrated Boars and Uncastrated Boars Slaughtered at Different Body Weights.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2025Article
- Description of metabolic differences between castrated males and intact gilts obtained from high-throughput metabolomics of porcine plasma.Journal of animal science · 2025Article
- Behavioral Assessment Reveals GnRH Immunocastration as a Better Alternative to Surgical Castration.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2024Article
- Effect of castration method on porcine skeletal muscle fiber traits and transcriptome profiles.Veterinary and animal science · 2024Article
- Male animal sterilization: history, current practices, and potential methods for replacing castration.Frontiers in veterinary science · 2024Review
- GnRH-immunocastration: an alternative method for male animal surgical castration.Frontiers in veterinary science · 2023Review
- On determining the mechanical nociceptive threshold in pigs: a reliability study.Frontiers in pain research (Lausanne, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Sustainable animal production: exploring the benefits of sperm sexing technologies in addressing critical industry challenges.Frontiers in veterinary science · 2023Review
- Does Immunocastration Affect Behaviour and Body Lesions in Heavy Pigs?Veterinary sciences · 2022Article
- Welfare of pigs on farm.EFSA journal. European Food Safety Authority · 2022Article
- Leydig Cells in Immunocastrated Polish Landrace Pig Testis: Differentiation Status and Steroid Enzyme Expression Status.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Article
- Animal Welfare Consequences of Organic Boar Fattening and Occurrence of Boar Taint on Five Commercial Farms.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2021Article
- Alternatives to Piglet Castration: From Issues to Solutions.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2021Article
- Impact of Housing Condition on Welfare and Behavior of Immunocastrated Fattening Pigs (Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2021Article
- Influence of Immunocastration on Slaughter Traits and Boar Taint Compounds in Pigs Originating from Three Different Terminal Sire Lines.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 6 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
For a long time, scientists assumed that newborns have a severely limited sense of pain (if any). However, this assumption is wrong and led to a "start of the exit" from piglet surgical castration. Some of the currently discussed or already implemented alternatives such as general or local anaesthesia during surgical castration raise additional welfare concerns as well as legal problems and/or are hardly applicable. The favoured long-term, welfare-friendly "gold standard" is to raise entire male pigs (EM). However, this may also impose certain welfare problems under the current conventional housing and management conditions. The specific types of behaviour displayed by EM such as mounting and aggressive behaviours but also increased exploration, which are partially linked to sexual maturation, increase the risk for injuries. The current status of knowledge (scientific literature and farmer experiences) on housing of EM suggests that environmental enrichment, space, group-stability, social constellation, feeding (diet and feeder space), health and climate control are critical factors to be considered for future housing systems. From an animal welfare point of view, an intermediate variant to be favoured to reduce problematic behaviour could be to slaughter EM before reaching puberty or to immunize boars early on to suppress testicular function. Immunization against endogenous GnRH can reduce EM-specific problems after the 2nd vaccination.
Indexed as
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.