The farrowing period is among the highest welfare-risk times for sows and piglets, with systems that confine sows causing significant welfare compromise during this critical phase.
Farrowing crate welfare represents one of the starkest conflicts between traditional intensive farming practice and animal welfare science. The confinement of a sow that cannot turn around, cannot root or nest, and cannot move freely for up to 6 weeks causes measurable suffering - frustration, abnormal repetitive behaviors, and social deprivation. The argument for crates - preventing piglet crushing - is legitimate and addresses a real welfare concern for piglets, but free-farrowing system design has demonstrated that alternative approaches can achieve acceptable piglet survival. Countries that have banned farrowing crates have developed viable alternatives, demonstrating that the welfare compromise of crate confinement is not an unavoidable feature of pig farming but a design problem that has been solved.