The welfare of entire (uncastrated) male pigs presents unique management challenges related to aggression, mounting behavior, and the detection of boar taint, requiring careful housing and husbandry strategies.
The welfare of entire male pigs involves tradeoffs between the harms of surgical castration and the management challenges of housing intact males. Traditional surgical castration without anesthesia causes acute pain and distress, representing a significant welfare concern affecting millions of pigs annually. Raising entire males avoids this harm but requires management strategies to minimize fighting injuries, particularly around regrouping. Housing entire males in stable groups with adequate space and enrichment reduces aggression. Immunocastration provides a surgical-castration alternative that eliminates taint issues while avoiding the ongoing pain caused by physical castration. From a welfare perspective, either leaving pigs entire with good management or using immunocastration is preferable to surgical castration without pain relief.