Pig Weaner Welfare and Transition

The weaning transition is a high-risk welfare period for piglets; management strategies can significantly reduce post-weaning stress and associated disease.

Key Facts

Commercial pigs are weaned at 3-4 weeks of age, earlier than the natural weaning age of 12-17 weeks.
Post-weaning multi-systemic wasting syndrome (PMWS) and post-weaning diarrhoea are leading causes of weaner mortality.
Weaning involves simultaneous loss of milk, maternal contact, and familiar social group — a triple stressor.
Providing creep feed from 2 weeks of age eases the dietary transition at weaning.
Mixing unfamiliar litters at weaning compounds social stress and increases fighting.

Welfare Considerations

Weaning is one of the most welfare-impacting events in pig production. The simultaneous stressors of dietary change, maternal separation, and social mixing create a perfect storm for immune suppression and disease. Piglets may lose weight for 7-14 days post-weaning before adapting. Enteric diseases during this period cause pain, diarrhoea, and dehydration. Welfare-improving strategies include later weaning (26-28 days minimum), keeping litters together rather than mixing, providing fibrous creep feed before weaning, and ensuring warm, draught-free post-weaning environments. Antimicrobial use at weaning should be reduced through these preventive measures rather than relied upon as the primary management tool.

What You Can Do

Choose pork from producers who wean at or after 28 days to allow more natural weaning timelines.
Support legislation requiring minimum weaning ages that better reflect piglet developmental needs.
Advocate for keeping litters together post-weaning to reduce social mixing stress.
Support research into later weaning systems that maintain commercial viability while improving welfare.