Pig breeding has historically prioritised production traits. Incorporating welfare traits into breeding goals represents a significant opportunity for systemic improvement.
Genetic selection for welfare traits offers a systemic, scalable route to improving pig welfare across the entire industry. Unlike management interventions that require individual farmer adoption, genetic improvement flows automatically through commercial breeding into every farm using selected genetics. The challenge is defining, measuring, and economically weighting welfare traits in selection indices. Progress requires collaboration between welfare scientists, geneticists, and breeding companies. The evidence that many welfare-relevant traits have sufficient heritability for genetic improvement is growing, making this one of the most promising long-term strategies for pig welfare.