Addressing the welfare crisis of high piglet mortality in commercial farrowing systems.
Neonatal piglet welfare represents a crisis where genetic selection for large litters has created a systemic mismatch between the number of piglets born and the capacity of sows to nurse them all successfully. Piglets who do not receive adequate colostrum in the first hours are immunologically vulnerable and developmentally compromised. The welfare response requires both management improvements — split suckling, colostrum banking, supplemental heating — and genetic reform that restores alignment between litter size and nursing capacity. The welfare cost of high neonatal mortality is substantial for the millions of piglets who die annually in preventable circumstances.