Mortality rates in commercial pig production are a direct welfare indicator — deaths represent the most severe welfare outcome. Understanding and reducing mortality requires addressing the root causes of the most common death categories.
Mortality in pig farming is not merely an economic metric — each death represents the endpoint of a welfare journey that often involves significant suffering before death occurs. Pre-weaning deaths from crushing are often preceded by hours of entrapment or injury. Deaths from respiratory disease involve fever, laboured breathing, and progressive deterioration over days. Deaths from tail biting result from wounds that become infected, leading to spinal abscesses or septicaemia — a slow, painful process. Delayed euthanasia of animals that cannot recover is among the most significant preventable welfare failures on commercial farms. Training stockpeople to identify animals requiring humane ending, and giving them clear authority to act promptly, directly reduces suffering duration.