Farm Animal Welfare

Farmed Pig Welfare: Biosecurity and Disease Prevention

Farm biosecurity - preventing pathogen introduction to pig herds - is both a welfare imperative and a production priority, with disease prevention reducing suffering at scale.

Key Facts

African Swine Fever (ASF) remains a devastating welfare and economic threat to pig populations globally
Biosecurity measures include visitor restrictions, vehicle disinfection, shower-in protocols and pest control
Pig Health and Welfare Council in the UK provides industry guidance on biosecurity standards
Disease introduction causes mass welfare events including large-scale culling as disease control
Good biosecurity on individual farms provides population-level welfare protection

Welfare Considerations

Biosecurity is a welfare measure with leverage beyond the individual farm - high biosecurity across a region protects all farms and all pigs from disease incursion. Disease events like ASF cause welfare disasters through mass culling of clinically healthy animals as well as the severe clinical course in affected animals. Investment in farm-level biosecurity, industry-level surveillance and international disease control is directly proportional to welfare protection.

What You Can Do

Support industry biosecurity programmes and follow farm visitor biosecurity requirements
Learn about the welfare and conservation implications of ASF for wild boar and farmed pigs
Advocate for investment in disease surveillance and control infrastructure
Report any unusual pig mortality or clinical signs to your vet immediately