Altering the timing of an immunocastration vaccine to optimise pig performance
Document Type
Conference Proceeding
Publication Date
2009
Conference Title
Twelfth Biennial Conference of the Australasian Pig Science Association
Place of Publication
Cairns
ISBN
978-0-9806880-0-9
ISSN
1324 9177
Keywords
pigs, swine
Disciplines
Animal Sciences | Meat Science
Abstract
Entire male pigs are more efficient and leaner than surgical castrates, but ‘boar taint’ can compromise eating quality. Vaccination of boars with a gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) vaccine (Improvac®, Pfizer Ltd, Parkville, VIC) can eliminate boar taint, and allows pigs to retain all of the performance attributes of entire males up until the time they receive the second vaccination, normally four to five weeks pre-slaughter (Dunshea et al., 2001). However increases in backfat depth (P2) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) compared to entire males has limited the uptake of this technology. If giving the second vaccination closer to the time of slaughter could eliminate boar taint, there would be less of a cost in lost production to producers. An experiment was conducted to test the hypothesis that reducing the time between administration of the second vaccination with the GnRH vaccine and their slaughter will reduce the impact on P2 and FCR while still reducing boar taint.
Recommended Citation
Lealiifano, A K,
Pluske, J R,
Nicholls, R R,
Dunshea, F R,
and
Mullan, B P.
(2009), Altering the timing of an immunocastration vaccine to optimise pig performance, Twelfth Biennial Conference of the Australasian Pig Science Association, Cairns, pp.184-184.
https://library.dpird.wa.gov.au/conf_papers/135
