Skin conditions in pigs including pityriasis rosea, greasy pig disease, and biting wounds significantly affect welfare and are often indicators of broader management problems.
Pig skin welfare encompasses both primary dermatological conditions and secondary skin damage from social aggression. Tail biting wounds — the most welfare-significant skin problem in commercial pigs — reflect environmental deficiencies that cause chronic frustration and redirected aggression. Greasy pig disease in young pigs causes widespread, painful lesions that without prompt veterinary treatment progress to systemic infection and death. Both conditions are largely preventable with appropriate management. The presence of significant skin welfare problems in a commercial pig unit is a reliable indicator of deeper welfare issues that skin treatment alone will not resolve.