The neonatal period is the most welfare-vulnerable phase of a farmed animal life. Poor neonatal management causes high mortality and long-term welfare deficits.
Neonatal welfare is a high-leverage intervention point: mortality and suffering in the first days of life represent both an enormous welfare burden and a significant economic cost to farmers. The interventions are largely known — adequate colostrum, thermal comfort, good hygiene, and appropriate social contact — but their implementation is inconsistent. In pig production, crushing by sows in confinement is the leading cause of piglet mortality and is itself a consequence of the welfare-compromising farrowing crate. Addressing farrowing crate welfare reforms is therefore also the most impactful neonatal pig welfare intervention.