[Tamsaddle]

Following on from comments in another post in December, we are thinking of booking in the vet to give us a lesson in how to castrate when our piglets are due in March.    Two questions - I think the rule is that you can castrate at home if they are "under 3 days old".    Does this mean that Day 3 is the ideal day, or would Day 2 or Day 1 be just as good?    What changes from Day 4 onwards?    Second - do castrated pigs grow just the same as if they were intact - in terms of final meat weight/taste etc.    So far with all our uncastrated boars, they usually seem to be about 5 to 10 kgs deadweight more than the girls, but perhaps they just competed for the available food better than their sisters while they were alive.     Thanks for any info anyone can provide - Tamsaddle

[HappyHippy]

I tend to do it day 3 (along with iron jags) day 1 and 2 I just let them recover from the trauma of birth & let them find their feet a bit.
I'm not sure of the 3 day rule is due to welfare/pain response  It is okay for a vet to do it after this point without anesthetic - but again, I don't know exactly why that is 
With 'big' breeds I don't think castration has any real effect on growth, but in the case of my little Kunes it does stunt their growth a bit - and the younger they are done the more it seems to affect them.
HTH
Karen 

[princesspiggy]

let us know how u get on with the vet, id be interested in that too. i had the vet show me how to ring a lamb. it would be a brave person to pick up dorothys babies at that age!
our boar finisher was a fair bit bigger than his sister too, but he also had more fat, so i think he was just bossy/greedy.

[robert waddell]

think it is 4 days then you have to use anesthetic   even the vet
4 days allows you to pick out the good ones from the bad
with castrates you can run them as one group    you don't have unwanted pregnancies          you defiantly wont have any unscrupulous people buying a boar for meat when they are intending to use it to breed    and you can take them to bigger weights without the possibility of taint

[oaklandspigs]

Tamsaddle - as you are in England you come under the "Mutilations (Permitted Procedures) (England) Regulations 2007"

Schedule 3 permits castration and says
1. Castration
The method used must not involve the tearing of tissues.
An anaesthetic and additional prolonged analgesia must be administered where the animal is aged 7 days or over.

It may well be different in Scotland on time - can't find immediately which scottish law covers this.

Whilst it's each to his/her own, we do not castrate anything here - and have had no problems with taint.  Entire boars grow faster than castrates.  We runs groups together with no issues, and only seperate the boys at puberty, they then continue to run together as a group (and are generally for the chop very soon after as they have grown bigger!).

[HappyHippy]

The official wording from the Scottish book is.....

The Welfare of Farmed Animals (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2003 (S.S.I. 2003 No. 488), Schedule 6, Part II, Paragraphs 22 and 23(2) state that:
22 Male pigs may be castrated provided the means employed do not involve tearing of tissues.
23(2) If castration is carried out after the seventh day of life, it shall only be performed by a veterinary surgeon in accordance with the provisions of the Protection of Animals (Anaesthetics) Act 1954.

So, just the same Oaklands  Don't know where I got the 3 day thing from 

[robert waddell]

don't know were i got the four days from either 
these teckie types that can can quote and speed type 

[Tamsaddle]

Thank you everyone for the replies.   To Oaklands - what age would you say they reach "puberty"?    In the past we have been separating ours at about 4 months, so have had to run them in separate groups for 3 months before slaughter at 7 months - a bit on the fat side, but gorgeous meat.     Unfortunately we don't have a very big place and running separate boy and girl groups makes for double the amount of mud in double the amount of plots, which we should  like to avoid if possible in the future, even though castration does seem a horribly violent way to achieve it.    How long do your boys and girls stay together?    Tamsaddle

[HappyHippy]

even though castration does seem a horribly violent way to achieve it. 

It's not horribly violent Tamsaddle, it's not the nicest thing to have to do, but it doesn't bother them any more than jagging or tagging - HONEST !
I'm a complete wuss, a girly girl who can't stand seeing any animal suffer - I honestly, hand on heart wouldn't do it if I thought it was barbaric & heartless. It's 2 minutes of 'proceedure' for a future with the rest of their brothers, sisters, aunties & mum - without ever having the prospect of a single pig (in the event that I was left with a single boar from one litter)
I think you might feel differently once the vet shows you how to do it - there's not even a drop of blood  It's just the thought of it, but once you've seen it carried out by a competent person you'll feel much more reassured 

[robert waddell]

if the anti castration brigade were to see a piglet castrated correctly at under 7 days old  a piglet given an injection  lambs castrated by rubber band or calves castrated by rubber band they would see once and for all it is bloodless stress free and less traumatic than rubber bands on lambs/calves any piglet that has air under its trotters squeals the place down
it is just the thought of sharp scalpels and testicles

[Tamsaddle]

Well that is a great relief - thank you Karen and Robert.    Tamsaddle