Weaning is the highest-stress transition in commercial pig production — evidence-based management protocols substantially reduce the welfare impact of this unavoidable procedure.
Weaning welfare management cannot eliminate the inherent stress of premature separation from the sow, but evidence-based protocols substantially reduce its severity and duration. The welfare-optimal approach addresses all three simultaneous stressors: social (maintain familiar litter-mate groups initially), dietary (creep feeding before weaning to ease feed transition), and environmental (familiar enrichment objects from the farrowing pen transferred to the nursery). Antibiotic use to manage post-weaning diarrhea is both a welfare and antimicrobial resistance concern — welfare-positive management that reduces post-weaning mortality and morbidity through prevention rather than treatment is the preferred approach. Later weaning ages (28-35 days) substantially reduce stress responses compared to earlier weaning, an option available to higher welfare production systems.