Improving breeding sow welfare requires addressing not just gestation crate phase-out but the full reproductive cycle including farrowing systems, weaning practices, and longevity management.
Breeding sow welfare encompasses the complete reproductive cycle, not just the gestation period that has attracted most regulatory attention. Farrowing crate confinement for 3-5 weeks represents significant welfare compromise for a mobile, intelligent animal, and alternative systems that protect piglets while allowing sow movement are feasible and increasingly adopted. Longevity welfare requires attention to leg health, body condition management, and weaning recovery nutrition - sows that break down structurally after 4-5 parities represent a systemic welfare failure from selection pressure that has prioritized reproductive performance over physical robustness.