Group housing for gestating sows is increasingly mandated and practiced globally. Understanding welfare outcomes and management challenges enables implementation that genuinely improves sow welfare.
Group housing transition represents welfare improvement that depends critically on implementation quality. Sows in poorly managed group systems - overcrowded, without bedding, with competitive feeding - may experience more welfare harm from aggression, feed deprivation, and injury than sows in well-managed crate systems. The welfare promise of group housing is realized when implementation includes adequate space, appropriate group sizes, individualized feeding, enrichment, and good stockperson management of fighting at introduction. The transition to group housing is most welfare-positive when accompanied by the management investment required to make it work, not simply as physical system change without the accompanying management protocols.