Spot review on the identification of farmed wild boar

An IFIP-led survey has estimated that there were 700 wild boar farms actively producing in 2009. Wild boar farms are governedby the same rules concerning animal registration as regular pig farms, and the records initially held by the local departmentalterritorial management agency ('DDT') are now held by the local departmental farm records agency ('Etablissement de l’Elevage') which issues each farm with a marking code. The farm holder has to keep a farm register similar to the one held by pig farm holders. Their boars have to be identified at weaning or, at the latest, when the piglet loses its coat striping. Identification is done using an ear tag featuring the farm site marking code. For sires, this ID code is completed with a 4-digit number that will stay with the sire throughout their career. The tag is green for category-A boar farms and yellow for category-B boar farms, an must have Ministry for Agriculture approval. Any tag lost must be replaced before the animal can be allowed to leave the farm site. Boar farmers have until summer 2011 to bring their boars into compliance with these new identification rules.