Pain assessment and management in pigs has advanced significantly. The Pig Grimace Scale and behavioral pain indicators enable early detection, while analgesic protocols prevent unnecessary suffering.
Pig pain science has produced validated assessment tools and effective analgesic protocols that are insufficiently used in commercial practice. The Pig Grimace Scale allows objective pain assessment that can be performed by trained stockpeople during daily rounds, enabling earlier intervention than behavior-based assessment alone. The barrier to implementing effective pig pain management is not lack of knowledge or effective drugs but culture, cost, and insufficient regulatory requirements that would create financial incentives for routine analgesia. Farms with pain management cultures — where stockpeople recognize pain signs, have access to appropriate medications, and are empowered to use them — provide measurably better welfare than those where pain is treated as a normal and unaddressable aspect of pig production.