Farm Animal Welfare

Pig Welfare and Chronic Welfare Assessment

Assessing welfare chronically rather than at single time points provides more reliable welfare information. Understanding chronic welfare assessment guides more meaningful farm evaluation.

Key Facts

Single welfare inspections miss seasonal variation and management failures
Repeated welfare measures over time provide more reliable welfare status assessment
Wearable and remote sensors enable continuous chronic welfare measurement
Chronic welfare indicators include body lesion scores, tail damage, and BCS over time
Longitudinal data enables identification of deteriorating welfare trends before they become welfare emergencies

Welfare Considerations

Chronic welfare assessment captures the lived welfare experience over time rather than a snapshot on inspection day. Technology enabling continuous monitoring is transforming the reliability of welfare assessment.

What You Can Do

Support development of chronic welfare assessment approaches
Advocate for repeated welfare measurement to be required in certification
Learn about chronic welfare assessment and its advantages over point-in-time inspection
Choose products from farms with continuous welfare monitoring programmes