The first week of a piglet's life is the highest-risk period for welfare and mortality; interventions including fostering, heat provision, and colostrum management significantly improve outcomes.
Neonatal piglet welfare requires intensive management investment in the first week of life — the period when the highest proportion of lifetime welfare risk is concentrated. Appropriate creep area design that maintains piglet temperature, active management of colostrum access for low-birthweight piglets, and prompt identification of sick piglets are the key welfare interventions. Farms with low preweaning mortality consistently show better welfare outcomes throughout the production cycle, reflecting the underlying management quality that characterises the entire system.