Pig Neonatal Welfare and Mortality Reduction

Neonatal piglet mortality is a significant welfare and production challenge in intensive pig farming, with management interventions available to reduce crushing, starvation, and chilling deaths.

Key Facts

Pre-weaning piglet mortality rates of 12-15% are common in conventional intensive systems
Crushing by sows is the leading cause of piglet death, accounting for 40-50% of losses
Hypothermia is a major cause of crushing as cold piglets are less mobile and less able to avoid the sow
Split suckling to ensure access to teats for smaller piglets in large litters reduces starvation deaths
Farrowing crate systems were adopted partly to reduce crushing, but at significant cost to sow welfare

Welfare Considerations

Neonatal piglet mortality represents a welfare tragedy affecting millions of animals, with solutions requiring attention to both piglet and sow welfare simultaneously. Heated creep areas, supplemental colostrum for runt piglets, split suckling management, and attentive stockpersonship reduce mortality without requiring the most restrictive crate systems. The welfare case for farrowing systems that protect piglets while allowing sow movement is driving innovation in free-farrowing pen design.

What You Can Do

Support research into free-farrowing system designs that reduce crushing risk
Advocate for producer transition programs that enable adoption of free-farrowing with piglet protection features
Choose pork from farms with documented neonatal care programs and welfare targets
Engage with pig industry welfare organizations about neonatal mortality reduction programs