Farrowing supervision is one of the most welfare-impactful interventions in pig farming, with skilled monitoring at birth preventing crushing deaths and ensuring all piglets receive colostrum.
Neonatal piglet mortality is a major welfare problem in pig farming. Crushing deaths represent abrupt, traumatic ends to young lives and reflect inadequate stockmanship or housing systems. Good supervision allows farmers to identify farrowing early, intervene in difficult births, ensure colostrum access, and manage litter equalisation.