Wirtschaftlichkeit der Alternativen zur betäubungslo-sen Ferkelkastration – Aktualisierung und Erweite-rung der betriebswirtschaftlichen Berechnungen

The ban of piglet castration without anaesthesia should come into force on 01.01.2019. On 29 November 2019, the German Bundestag extended this deadline by two years because politicians and industry were unable to agree on one or more of the available alternatives. The change in the law means that pig-farms in Germany will have to change their present practices. The strategies discussed are fattening of entire males, vaccination against boar taint (so-called immunocastration), castration using various anaesthetic methods and local anaesthesia. Building on Working Paper 64 (Verhaagh & Deblitz, 2016), the aim of this study is to provide an updated analysis of the economic effects of these alternative methods and to compare their eco-nomic viability. The first step is to specify a reference situation (baseline) with the current practice of castrating male piglets without anaesthesia. Data from 11 typical pig farms in the most important regions of Germany with different numbers of animals and production methods (specialised piglet production or pig finishing, closed system) were used. Then the alternatives of the current practice and their effects on the performance data as well as the costs and revenues are defined. The baseline and the alternatives are evaluated in a total cost analysis because, in addition to direct costs, investments and overheads are also affected. Variation calculations for prices, performance data and application methods complete the analysis. The costs of boar finishing with vaccination (immunocastration) are compensated by the higher performance of the animals and a better feed conversion. Boar fattening – i.e. the abandonment of castration measures – is less profitable due to reduced payments by the German slaughter industry (boar price mask). There are also regional differences between the two methods. The effects of the surgical measure are more homogeneous between the farm types and regions in Germany: among the two measures of general anaesthesia, injection anaesthesia is the most expensive, followed by inhalation anaesthesia with isoflurane. Local anaesthesia, also known as the "fourth way" (anaesthesia of the testicles during castration), has significantly lower costs. An important reason for the higher costs of anaesthesia procedures is the fact that based on the present legislation they may only be performed by veterinarians. Variation calculations show that the costs for all measures decrease under the assumption that the farmers are allowed to carry them out themselves. A corresponding implementing regulation for isoflurane anaesthesia is in preparation.