Farmed Animals

Validated Welfare Indicators for Pigs

Validated welfare indicators provide objective, comparable measures for assessing and improving pig welfare across production systems.

Key Facts

Welfare Quality developed a comprehensive welfare assessment protocol for pigs
Tail lesion scoring, body condition, and behaviour assessment are core pig welfare indicators
Abattoir data on tail lesions and lung lesions provide herd-level welfare information
Regular in-life welfare assessment enables early detection and intervention
Consumer and retailer demand is driving adoption of outcome-based welfare assurance in pork supply chains

Welfare Considerations

Validated welfare indicators for pigs provide objective, comparable data on herd welfare that can identify problems and drive improvement. Outcome measures including tail lesion scores, body condition, behaviour, and health indicators reflect the actual welfare experience of pigs in the system. Regular assessment and benchmarking against validated standards enables continuous welfare improvement.

What You Can Do

Support pork assurance schemes that use validated welfare outcome indicators
Choose pork from farms with documented welfare outcome monitoring
Advocate for abattoir welfare data to be shared with farms of origin
Support research into novel pig welfare indicators and monitoring systems
Raise awareness about outcome-based welfare assessment in pig production