aggressive behaviors and handling difficulties. The optima
age at which a pig should be castrated to minimize
effects on performance and well being remains an area
of debate in scientific and production arenas. Pigs castrated
at several weeks of age, as opposed to several
days of age, exhibit greater negative behavioral and
physiological responses to castration (Wemelsfelder
and Van Putten, 1985; McGlone and Hellman, 1988).
Hence, castration before weaning is currently recommended
(Widowski and Torrey, 2002). Nevertheless, in
pigs