Investigating the causes of pig deaths systematically transforms mortality data into welfare intelligence that can drive targeted improvements and prevent recurrence.
Mortality investigation as a welfare tool converts deaths into actionable welfare information: a farm losing pigs to PRRS, coccidiosis, or twisted gut has a manageable welfare problem — if identified. Without investigation, each death is an unexplained loss rather than a data point driving improvement. The welfare benefit is both direct (each prevented death prevents suffering) and indirect (disease identification enables treatment of affected surviving animals). Post-mortem investigation is a low-cost, high-welfare-impact practice that remains underutilised on many farms.