Surgical castration of male piglets without anaesthesia is routine in domestic pig production causing serious distress and impairment of welfare. Thus, the EU is seeking alternatives, with local anaesthesia being one of the possible candidates. The aim of the present study was to compare surgical castration without anaesthesia (castration by cutting the spermatic cords (C) with castration under local anaesthesia (CL), the act of intratesticular anaesthesia (L), and the combined effect of local anaesthesia and the following castration (L + CL) under practical field conditions on a commercial farm. Distress was estimated according to a set of behavioural indicators derived from vocalisation and defence movements of the piglets. C had the overall worst effects on the indices, made up assumingly by the pain due to the intensity and duration of the procedure, although it was not possible to separate the effects of handling and the procedure of castration. Local anaesthesia reduces the intensity of pain experienced during castration as assessed by changes in the behavioural indicators used here. But this positive effect was partly obscured by additional distress due to prolonged handling. It is concluded that the welfare benefits of local anaesthesia for castration of piglets, as carried out and assessed here, may not fully meet expectations, and that further research is needed to find ways to reduce the suffering of male piglets, that it is necessary to castrate.

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