The science underlying gestation housing policy demonstrates clear welfare costs of individual confinement and provides the evidence base for the transition to group housing systems that is reshaping global pork production.
Gestation housing science provides an unusually clear welfare verdict: individual confinement that prevents movement, social interaction, and natural behavior causes measurable suffering in sows whose behavioral motivations remain strong despite inability to act on them. The transition to group housing is scientifically well-supported and practically achievable. The welfare case is settled at the research level — the remaining challenge is implementation at commercial scale with sufficient quality to deliver the welfare benefits that the science identifies.