Sow welfare throughout the breeding cycle is determined by body condition, lameness management, housing quality, and breeding frequency that collectively determine productive longevity.
Sow welfare and productive longevity are so closely linked that farms with better welfare outcomes consistently achieve higher average parity numbers. The connection is mechanistic: sows free from lameness, maintained in good body condition, and housed in environments that allow natural behavior maintain reproductive function and structural soundness through more parities. Early culling at parity 2-3 represents not only a welfare failure — the sow was culled for a preventable problem — but also an economic failure, as the most productive parities occur at parity 3-6. Genetics, housing, and management all influence longevity. Selecting for leg conformation and foot health alongside production traits, providing appropriate flooring, and monitoring sow body condition throughout the reproductive cycle creates the foundation for welfare-positive productive longevity.