Pig producers paid for market pig intact tails in Europe

Photo: Janice Neitzel

Original article written by Kees van Dooren

​A French cooperative is encouraging its members to supply pigs with intact tails. That is why a bonus system has been set up since the beginning of July.

Pig farmers will receive an additional €0.04/kg slaughter weight for every pig that arrives at the slaughterhouse with an entire tail. The condition is that at least 10% of the pigs have a long tail. The tail must be at least 20 cm long. Market leader Cooperl is processing 5 million pigs annually.

There are currently around 100 farmers in the tail concept. At the moment, 3% of Cooperl pigs have an intact tail. That percentage will increase, said Yves Doussal, nutritionist at Cooperl confirmed at the annual French trade show SPACE, held 17-19 September 2024. ​

Slaughtering intact boars
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Not only entire tails are a focus of France’s largest pig cooperative, also the theme of castration and entire boars have been an issue for Cooperl for quite some while. The French market leader started processing entire boars more than 10 years ago. That has now almost become the standard, as just about 10% of the boars are castrated. Those animals are in the Label Rouge quality mark, where castration will be the norm until the end of this year. After that moment, this will change. As a consequence, the percentage of intact boars at Cooperl will increase further.

Original article published on pigprogress.net

Janice Netizel

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