Genetic selection in pigs has profound welfare implications, with selection for production traits often imposing welfare costs that more holistic selection approaches could avoid.
Pig genetic selection welfare reflects the long-term consequences of prioritising production traits over welfare-relevant traits in selective breeding. Legs that develop lameness from structural weakness, litters so large that some piglets inevitably starve, and cardiovascular systems stressed by rapid growth rates are partly genetic legacy of selection processes that excluded welfare from their objectives. Including welfare-relevant traits - leg strength, temperament, disease resistance, and maternal behaviour - in breeding objectives produces pigs that live better lives while also being commercially viable.