The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Precision breeding to end need for piglet castration
swine: US firms to develop precision breeding technology to create piglets born naturally castrated
Two companies in the United States have joined forces to develop precision breeding technology that can produce male piglets born naturally castrated.
Castrating piglets can be a somewhat controversial topic in different countries around the world but the majority of breeders do so in order to improve behaviour aspects and to increase meat quality.
The US companies, Recombinetics, which is a pioneer in gene editing solutions for animal agriculture and human health, and DNA Genetics, a swine genetics supplier, plan to end the need for surgical castrations in the future.
When they have developed the castration-free swine trait, the goal for the partnership is to make their new technology on to farms across the world.
Scientists at Recombinetics developed a precision-breeding method resulting in male piglets that remain in a pre-pubertal state.
This approach will eliminate the need for castration, either surgical or medicinal.
The teams will collect and evaluate their research looking closely at feed efficiency, meat quality and best practices for recovery of puberty and fertility in order to establish how commercially viable this castration-free technology could be.
Recombinetics president and CEO Tammy Lee Stanoch said: “We create technology-driven solutions that improve animal health and wellbeing.
“From producing naturally hornless cattle to now eliminating the routine castration of swine, we have a proven track record of bringing science-based solutions to benefit animal health.
“By partnering with industry leader DNA Genetics, we have the combined expertise to bring the castration-free trait to market and provide solutions that can benefit the entire pork industry.”
Recombinetics received a $500,000 fund from the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research in December to use new techniques to breed swine that will eliminate the need for surgical castration.