Rules for castration of piglets

When keeping pigs it is impossible to do without such manipulations as pituitary resection. Piglets are castrated at various times. It is a surgical operation performed by a doctor. However, experienced pig farmers can do without help.

Castration of piglets

Purpose of the procedure

Many beginners with guilty people don’t know why to castrate piglets. Castration of pigs is an operation to force the pituitary gland to stop functioning or to completely resect (remove). Castration of pigs with their own hands can be done in several ways, including:

• surgical;
• hormone;
• chemical;
• radioactive.

At home, piglets are castrated only surgically. Castration of a pig should be carried out at an early age. This procedure provokes changes in metabolic processes in the body of the knur, which lead to a change in external data compared with uncastrated males. Piglets are castrated to reduce the production of sex hormones.During puberty, a powerful release of hormones occurs, which leads to undesirable effects when feeding:

• the meat of an adult uncastrated boar smells bad;
• sexual hunting in pigs occurs every month, which leads to overexcitation of individuals of both sexes, as a result of which the pig eats little and lose weight;
• piglets are castrated to reduce aggressiveness in the future.

Sometimes pigs experience health problems that are solved only by castration. For example, an inflamed testis only needs to be removed; it is simply impossible to cure it differently. Such an operation is indicated for hernia, malignant neoplasms, various pathologies of organ systems. The expediency of the manipulation to remove the gonads should be confirmed by the doctor by making an accurate diagnosis.

The timing and benefits of the manipulation at an early stage of development

Castration of piglets at a suckling age is much tolerated by animals better, during this period the risk of complications is minimized. With castration of piglets aged 10 to 45 days, less blood loss is observed. The main advantage is the simplicity of the operation: to hold a small piglet is much easier than an adult.The main advantages of early castration:

• immunological stability of individuals after surgery: tissue regeneration occurs faster when the piglets are next to the sow and receive additional vitamins from breast milk;
• it does not require the use painkillers;
• hormonal changes in the early stages promotes rapid weight gain, improves meat quality.

Castration of piglets at home can be carried out at any age. However, it is important to remember that when fattening boars, it is necessary to empty them up to six months of age, otherwise the instinct will remain even after removal of the glands, which will lead to difficulties in keeping individuals of both sexes in one enclosure.

Process preparation for manipulation

Before castrating piglets, it is necessary to prepare the animals for surgical intervention. In fact, the time of day for the operation is not significant. However, it is better to carry out all manipulations in the morning to be able to observe the animals in the postoperative period during daylight hours.

Castration of piglets should not be carried out during the organization of preventive measures. This includes vaccination and deworming. Before castrating a piglet, you need to wait 2 weeks after such interventions. Initially, an examination of the genital area is carried out.This procedure helps to reduce the risk of complications in the postoperative phase.

During examination, attention should be paid to the state of the dermis in the genital area. Next, the degree of mobility of the sheath of the vagina, the volume of the testicles, the length of the spermatic cord are determined by palpation. It is necessary to establish the presence of foreign bodies in the sheath of the vagina, such as the omentum, intestines, fluid, all kinds of neoplasms. After you have made sure that everything is in order with the animals, you can begin to sterilize the necessary surgical instruments:

• abdominal scalpels of various sizes;
• tweezers for stopping blood;
• scissors;
• needles;
• tweezers;
• emaskulator;
• dressings, suture threads, catgut.

15 minutes before the surgery, hands are prepared: they cut the nails, treat the subungual space, treat the hands with a disinfectant. There should be no cuts on the hands. In order not to infect the animals, they need to wear a mask on their faces.

Methods for removing the gonads

At this stage, different methods of surgical intervention are distinguished. They are divided into bloodless and bloody. The first method is carried out without intervention and violation of the dermis. This includes methods of chemical, mechanical and radiation castration.

These methods are used only for large pig farms, in small farms they are simply disadvantageous to the breeder in material terms. The second method involves surgical intervention by violating the integrity of the dermis. Bloody operations, in turn, are divided into open and closed.

Castration of a boar in a closed way is indicated by large-sized adults. With a hernia, surgery is indicated 2 months before slaughter, not earlier, while maintaining a two-week period after deworming. Castration of adult boars requires the presence of several people.

Removal of the sex glands from knurs

To operate a large boar, good fixation is necessary. The male must be laid up belly and securely tied. The genital area is cleaned with a soapy solution. Novocaine 0.5% is used as anesthesia, in some cases, sleeping pills are used.

When dissecting the scrotum, it is important not to touch the vaginal film. The testis and film along with the skin are pulled to the side. Then they are rotated 360 °, after which the piercing ligature is overlaid. The spermatic cord is removed and pulled together with the film, while stepping back from the ligation site 1 cm. To speed up regeneration, a healing preparation is applied.

With an inguinal hernia, surgery should be performed as soon as possible. The pig must be fixed up with the belly, lifting the back.Cut the skin in the immediate vicinity of the hernial ring, then gently separate the intestine from the scrotum.

If you have to do it yourself with a hernia, you should know that a hernia is a piece of the intestine that broke through part of the muscle tissue and failed into the cavity of the scrotum. The intestinal loop must be pushed back into the abdomen, and then twisted several times the spermatic cord with a vaginal film and cover with a ligature ligation. The treatment of wounds is carried out similarly to the method described above.

Removal of the sex glands from gilts

An open castration method is used for monthly pigs. It can be used for individuals of all ages. For immobilization, a piglet castration machine is used.

The area to be treated is exposed by cutting hair and wiped with a disinfectant solution. The dermis of the scrotum and vaginal film pull and cut the skin on both sides. The testicles are pulled by a cord and put a ligature, the gland is cut off below the ligation line. The sutures are treated similarly to the closed method.

The castration of Vietnamese piglets at 10-20 days of age is carried out by cutting the spermatic cord. The technique of its implementation is similar to the previous method, the pig is also fixed using a machine. The difference is that the spermatic cord is twisted until it comes out completely, or it is torn off in one sharp movement. The wound is disinfected.

Postoperative period

A piglet after castration needs constant monitoring for the first 4-5 days. It is necessary to pay attention to the general state of health and the rate of skin regeneration.

For glazed large knuts, it is necessary to prepare a separate corral in advance. It is strictly forbidden to use sawdust as a litter: they can provoke infection, clogging in wounds when the animal lies down. If severe swelling has appeared in the suture area and the animal is eating poorly, it is necessary to consult a veterinarian immediately.

Ovariectomy

Pigs are also sometimes neutered to reduce the period of their feeding for meat. This operation is called ovariectomy. The optimal age for the procedure is 4-6 months. Contraindications for surgery are:

• pregnancy;
• estrus;
• infectious diseases.

Before castration of females they are kept on a hungry diet for 12 hours, adult pigs – from 16 to 20, and very large individuals – 24 hours. To fix the animal use a special machine. The hairs in the suboperative area are removed, the place is treated with an alcoholic solution of iodine. After dissection of the abdominal cavity, uterine horns are found and each ovary is removed alternately. Sutures can be removed after 6-7 days.

There is a biological method for castration of females. For three days do injections of platifillin 1%. The use of hormonal drugs is also practiced.The injection is done once.

The final part

Castration of pigs is necessary to reduce the time of feeding and improve the quality of meat. Knurov castrated without fail. If the male is not neutered, the meat will have an unpleasant odor due to repeated release of hormones. It is recommended to perform operations at an early age. After castration in small piglets, the healing process is much faster than in large adult individuals. The main thing is to securely attach the animal before the operation, for this they use a special device: a machine for castration of piglets. Most often, animals are fixed upward with their belly at an angle of 45 ° C to provide open access to the genital area. The large-abdomen boar is fixed on a barrel. It is correct to remove both testicles, because with one egg the male will continue his usual sexual life.

It is worth taking care of the postoperative place for the castrated individual in advance. The first operation at home is preferably carried out under the supervision of an experienced doctor in order to prevent complications as a result of one’s own inexperience. Castration can be carried out by various methods. At home, for the most part, surgical intervention is used. In general, the type of castration is selected, depending on how many pigs are contained.

In large farms, chemical castration of piglets is used.For a small population, the use of this method is simply impractical from an economic point of view. After the operation, it is necessary to constantly monitor the health status of pets in order to prevent complications. It is important to remember that operations can be carried out only after 2 weeks after deworming and vaccination.

Care in the postoperative period is especially important for adults, because in young people, regeneration is much faster, because they are breast-fed. If the pig eats normally, looks healthy and active, you can transfer it to a common pen. To learn more about the procedure for removing the gonads and organs, you can watch the training video.