While farrowing crate welfare receives significant attention, the welfare of sows throughout their reproductive lives — including gestation and the overall housing and health management they receive — is equally important.
Sow welfare encompasses the entire reproductive life of these intelligent, social animals — not just the farrowing period that receives most public attention. Gestating sows in group housing face social stressors from competition and aggression that require sophisticated management; those in inadequately designed systems can experience chronic anxiety, injuries, and reduced access to food. The high culling rate for lameness in commercial sow herds reflects both the welfare burden of leg and foot problems and the economic calculus that prioritises replacement over treatment. Positive welfare — the experience of positive emotional states, not merely the absence of suffering — requires opportunities for exploration, social interaction, and the expression of motivated behaviours that are systematically frustrated in barren commercial environments.