The finishing phase — the final 6-12 weeks before slaughter when pigs grow to market weight — presents specific welfare challenges related to stocking density, boredom, aggression, and pre-slaughter handling.
The finishing phase represents a welfare challenge because the pressures of high density, rapid growth, and pre-slaughter management converge simultaneously. Pigs at finishing weight have less relative space than at earlier life stages due to their size growth. The suppression of positive welfare — reduced play, exploration, and voluntary social interaction — is a welfare loss even when negative welfare indicators like injuries are absent. Pre-slaughter handling quality has an outsized welfare impact: a single transport event that lasts hours subjects animals to social mixing, temperature stress, noise, and physical handling that negates welfare gains from months of good husbandry. Low-stress handling training for slaughterhouse staff is a high-impact welfare intervention.