Systematic pain assessment in pigs is essential for identifying welfare problems and evaluating interventions. Evidence-based scoring tools are transforming what farmers can see and address.
Pain scoring in pigs represents a critical translation from welfare science to farm practice. Farmers who cannot see pain cannot address it, and traditional farm management relied heavily on visible, severe welfare indicators while missing chronic, low-grade pain that affects the majority of pig welfare experience. The Pig Grimace Scale and similar tools make the invisible visible, enabling welfare interventions that previously couldn't happen because the need wasn't apparent. Automated monitoring represents the next step: continuous, objective welfare assessment that doesn't depend on intermittent observation.