Weaning is one of the most stressful events in a pig life. Post-weaning welfare challenges include social disruption, dietary change, and disease susceptibility in a critical period.
Post-weaning is a welfare-critical period during which piglets face simultaneous stressors of maternal separation, social disruption from mixing with unfamiliar animals, dietary transition, and immunological challenge. The cumulative stress of these concurrent experiences suppresses immune function and predisposes piglets to infectious disease. Welfare improvements include later weaning age, keeping litters together post-weaning rather than mixing, providing environmental enrichment, and gradual dietary transition through creep feeding. Reducing antibiotic use in post-weaning management requires addressing the underlying welfare and management factors that drive disease rather than relying on prophylactic treatment.