Newborn piglets routinely undergo multiple painful procedures including castration, tooth clipping, and ear notching, almost always without pain relief. These practices cause acute suffering that is preventable.
Routine piglet procedures cause acute pain that is currently poorly managed on most farms. While individual procedure duration is short, the cumulative welfare impact across billions of piglets globally is enormous. Immunocastration provides a pain-free alternative for boar taint prevention. Mandatory analgesia requirements and transitions to physical castration alternatives would significantly improve neonatal pig welfare.