The post-weaning period is one of the highest-risk phases in pig production, with nutritional interventions during this transition significantly affecting both welfare outcomes and long-term health trajectories.
Post-weaning nutritional welfare reflects the compounding nature of welfare challenges at this stage: the stress of separation, the immunological challenge of a new environment, and the physiological demand of transitioning to solid feed all occur simultaneously. Nutritional interventions that support gut health during this period reduce not just mortality but the chronic low-level digestive discomfort that affects piglets who survive but suffer. Investing in weaning nutrition quality is both a welfare and a production decision with returns in both dimensions.