Weaning in commercial pig production is a major welfare challenge, with piglets experiencing social, nutritional, and environmental stressors simultaneously.
Early weaning is one of the most significant welfare compromises in intensive pig production, creating simultaneous stressors that overwhelm piglet adaptive capacity. The gut barrier disruption from early weaning creates vulnerability to enteric disease that drives antibiotic use — making welfare improvement and antibiotic stewardship directly aligned. Welfare-positive approaches delay weaning where possible, use creep feed introduction to ease dietary transition, transfer some bedding from the farrowing room to the nursery to maintain familiar olfactory cues, and avoid mixing piglets from different litters at weaning.