European pig production faces a big challenge in the near future as stakeholders voluntarily agreed to end surgical castration without anesthesia and pain relief after 2018. Despite public disapproval in a number of EU countries, the majority of male piglets in the EU are still surgically castrated (SC). Two alternatives to SC currently exist. Raising entire males (EM) has been the preferred choice, but meat quality and welfare problems (i.e. boar taint, injuries) remain unsolved. Immunocastration (IC) may be an alternative, but its wider application in the EU is hampered by technological issues and social acceptability. Thus, the aim of our project is to critically evaluate and optimize pork production with IC as an environmental, economic and socially sustainable alternative to systems with SC or EM. This goal will be addressed by a multidisciplinary consortium of 8 partners with wide expertise covering the overall pork supply chain. The project will analyse the consequences of IC for production and production systems with respect to regional circumstances and societal atmosphere. Key issues regarding farm management and related consequences for animals and product quality are covered together with consumer perspectives in four work packages (WP). Three additional WP will integrate the results with respect to societal acceptance and environmental, economic and social sustainability. A further WP involves dissemination of the results and bidirectional exchange of information and experience with stakeholders along the value chain. The project will provide support for pork industry and farmers, but also for the decision-making and improving processes of governmental authorities towards an animal-friendly and consumer-accepted pork production across the EU. Our transnational collaboration avoids redundancies in research, allows rapid knowledge transfer and the development of knowledge-based communication strategies as a prerequisite for the acceptance of IC in Europe.

European cattle farmers are facing increased demand for pasture-based and environmentally friendly products. Although feeding strategies to reduce Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions have been studied intensively, strategies for grazing systems are under-researched. The lack of easy-to-implement technologies for methane measurement with grazing cattle complicates the necessary large-scale studies. GrASTech will develop an animal-mounted sensor platform for methane measurement in grazing cattle and validate using established techniques (Respiration chambers, LaserGun and Greenfeed). Additionally, herd productivity, which has a major impact on GHG emission intensity (per kg product), will be improved using a wide range of precision livestock farming technologies. All strategies will be evaluated using life cycle assessment in order to find net positive effects. GrASTech will provide important advances towards achieving the challenging goals of the climate action plan.