The shift toward antibiotic-free pig production requires welfare-protective management substitutes, with evidence showing both benefits and risks for animal welfare.
Antibiotic stewardship in pig production has clear public health benefits but creates genuine welfare challenges when inadequate alternative measures are implemented. The welfare imperative is not antibiotics or no antibiotics, but ensuring that disease prevention, early detection, and appropriate treatment (including antibiotics when clinically indicated) protect animals from suffering regardless of production system. Systems that eliminate antibiotics without investing in vaccination, nutrition, biosecurity, and management alternatives expose pigs to preventable disease and suffering. The welfare outcome must be central to antibiotic reduction strategy design.