Reproductive technologies including artificial insemination, embryo transfer, and genetic selection shape welfare outcomes for millions of pigs. The welfare implications deserve careful examination.
The welfare implications of pig reproductive biotechnology illustrate how productivity optimization can inadvertently generate welfare problems at massive scale. Selecting intensely for litter size has produced sows that routinely give birth to more piglets than they can viably rear, resulting in high neonatal mortality, crushing of small piglets by overwhelmed mothers, and nutritional competition among littermates. These are welfare harms created by the breeding program itself. Responsible integration of welfare traits into genetic selection criteria — selecting for sow longevity, maternal behavior, appropriate litter size — would reduce these problems without sacrificing productivity. Some progressive breeding companies have begun incorporating welfare traits, demonstrating that the apparent conflict between productivity and welfare is partially resolvable.