Slaughter Of Pregnant Pigs In Germany: A Slaughterhouse Survey (Sign-Project)

For the first time in Germany, the frequency of slaughterings of pregnant pigs was examined in the research project "Evaluation of the Proportion of Pregnancies in Slaughtered Livestock and the Reasons for Slaughter of Pregnant Animals" (Acronym: "SiGN"). The prevalence survey was performed in a representative sample size of three participating abattoirs from May 2017 up to and including October 2017. A total of 11,137 sows were examined. Pregnancies were detected in 3 % (331/11,137) of the investigated sows. 47 % of the animals (n = 157) were in the first, 44 % (n = 145) in the second and 9 % (n = 29) in the third trimester of pregnancy. Thus, the prevalence of sows, which were in the last third of pregnancy, was 0.3 %. There were no statistical significant differences in the prevalence (p = 0.146), the distribution of trimesters (p = 0.273) and the prevalence of the last trimester (p = 0.261) between involved abattoirs. Altogether the pregnant sows were slaughtered in batch quantities. Furthermore, the batch-wise slaughtered gravid sows often were at the same stage of gestation. In addition to the gravid sows, sows with birth complications and pregnant fattening pigs were found as incidental findings. This data collection is the basis for preventive measures to avoid the slaughter of pregnant pigs.