Disease prevention through biosecurity protects pig welfare by reducing the incidence and severity of diseases that cause significant suffering.
Disease prevention is a welfare investment - diseases prevented cause no suffering, while diseases that establish in pig populations cause welfare harm ranging from mild respiratory disease to the catastrophic welfare harm of ASF mortality events. The welfare case for rigorous biosecurity is also the production case: disease prevention reduces treatment costs, improves growth performance, and prevents catastrophic mortality events. Biosecurity cultures that hold all personnel accountable for maintaining protocols, provide the infrastructure needed to comply (showers, clean boots, vehicle disinfection stations), and audit compliance through regular checks demonstrate that welfare-positive disease prevention is achievable at commercial scale.