[Effect of castration of organic swine with anesthesia on the veterinary cost and physical work load of the pig farmer].

We studied the costs of the veterinarian and physical work load for the farmer of anaesthetizing piglets before surgical castration compared with castration without anaesthesia on seven organic pig farms . Based on experiences from farmers and veterinarians in Norway a protocol 'Castration with anaesthesia' was formulated. This protocol was tested on the Experimental Farm at Raalte and then applied on six organic pig farms. By means of video recording it was measured how much time it takes to castrate and anaesthetize the piglets. The veterinarian anaesthetized the piglets with lidocaine. The work load for the farmer was measured by scoring the physical load for the back and the upper limbs. It took 142 and 81 seconds per litter, respectively, to castrate and anaesthetize the piglets. The waiting time between anaesthesia and castration varied from 10 to 20 minutes on the six farms. Based on these measurements, it was calculated that the costs of the veterinarian (excluding call out fee) of anaesthetizing piglets are Euro 1.73 per litter with five boars. The costs of lidocaine are Euro 0.25 per litter with five boars. The costs per kg organic pig meat are Euro 0.012. The farmers and their veterinarians were asked to react on some theses. They all agreed that the pig farmer should perform the anaesthesia with lidocaine. Anaesthetizing piglets before castration did not affect the physical load for the back and the upper limbs of the pig farmer.