Appropriate nutrition during gestation and lactation is fundamental to sow welfare. Nutritional deficits cause chronic hunger, metabolic disease, and poor reproductive performance with significant welfare costs.
Sow nutrition sits at the heart of reproductive performance and welfare in pig breeding herds. The metabolic demands of late gestation and peak lactation are enormous, and sows whose nutritional needs are not met experience both the physical consequences of mobilizing body reserves beyond healthy limits and the psychological experience of chronic hunger. Feed restriction during gestation, practiced to control body weight, is a major source of welfare compromise that causes persistent hunger-related stereotypies. Providing adequate fiber to increase satiety without excessive energy, and using individual feeding systems in group housing, are practical strategies that improve both welfare and reproductive outcomes. Nutritional investment in sow wellbeing pays returns in litter size, milk production, and longevity.