Impact of using vaccination with Improvac® on boar taint, carcass composition and meat quality

Boar taint is traditionally controlled by physical castration early in life, but animal welfare concerns are likely to lead to an end to the practice in Europe by 2018, and even apart from the welfare consideration there are major disadvantages in terms of animal health and productivity. Improvac represents an alternative to physical castration and the concept is attractive due to potential benefits in on-farm growth performance and carcass characteristics, as well as major improvements in animal welfare and a reduction in the carbon footprint of pig production. Pigs vaccinated with Improvac showed in different studies less fat, more meat and higher weight of key individual primal cuts than physical castrates.