Farmed Pig Nursery Phase Welfare

The nursery phase after weaning is a critical welfare period for piglets, when immune vulnerability and behavioural stress combine to produce significant health challenges.

Key Facts

EU legislation requires a minimum weaning age of 28 days for piglets
Early weaning causes gut microbiome disruption, immune compromise, and behavioural stress
Post-weaning diarrhoea is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in early weaned piglets
Maternal antibody protection wanes at weaning, coinciding with pathogen exposure stress
Enrichment during the nursery phase reduces tail biting, fighting, and other stress behaviours

Welfare Considerations

Weaning is one of the most stressful events in a pig's life, simultaneously removing maternal contact, familiar social environment, and milk nutrition. Post-weaning diarrhoea causes significant suffering and mortality. The widespread prophylactic antibiotic use to manage post-weaning disease is a response to welfare problems created by intensive management. Later weaning ages, gradual dietary transitions, and enriched nursery environments reduce the welfare burden of this critical transition period.

What You Can Do

Support pork products from farms using later weaning ages and enriched nursery environments
Advocate for minimum 28-day weaning requirements and encouragement of later weaning
Support research into post-weaning nutrition strategies that reduce diarrhoea without antibiotics
Choose pork producers certified under welfare standards that address nursery phase welfare
Raise awareness about post-weaning stress as a major but addressable pig welfare challenge