Farrowing crates confine sows for weeks around birth, preventing natural behaviour and causing significant welfare costs. The debate over alternatives balances piglet crushing risk against sow welfare, but evidence shows well-designed free-farrowing systems can protect both.
The farrowing crate is one of the most welfare-compromising practices in mainstream pig farming. Sows have a strong instinct to build a nest before giving birth — a behaviour that crates make completely impossible. Confined sows show intense frustration, repeatedly rooting at bars, and research demonstrates that confinement causes chronic stress measurable in cortisol levels and stereotypic behaviours. Although the primary justification is piglet survival, evidence increasingly shows that well-managed free-farrowing systems with appropriate design features can achieve equal or better piglet survival while allowing sows to express natural behaviour. The welfare case against farrowing crates is one of the most compelling in farmed animal research.