Sow welfare is central to pig farming ethics, encompassing conditions during pregnancy, farrowing, lactation, and the transition between reproductive cycles.
Sow welfare across the full reproductive cycle requires attention to housing, social management, feeding, health monitoring, and handling. Chronic problems including lameness, shoulder sores from inadequate bedding, and reproductive infections cause prolonged suffering when undetected. Transition between farrowing and group housing is a high-welfare-risk period. Well-trained stockpeople who understand sow behaviour, monitor body condition, and respond promptly to health problems are the critical welfare determinant across all housing systems.