Farm Animals

Pig Skin Lesion Scoring Welfare

Skin lesion scoring is a validated welfare assessment tool that quantifies aggression injury and identifies welfare problems in pig populations.

Key Facts

Skin lesion scores correlate with aggression levels and welfare status in growing pigs
Scoring at weigh-in and grading provides population-level welfare data for benchmarking
Digital photography analysis is being developed for automated lesion scoring
High lesion scores indicate underlying problems requiring investigation including stocking density and enrichment
Benchmarking against sector averages identifies farms requiring welfare improvement support

Welfare Considerations

Pigs with high skin lesion burdens have experienced significant aggression-related injury. Regular lesion scoring identifies welfare problems earlier and enables targeted interventions.

What You Can Do

Support pork from farms with documented skin lesion scoring programs
Advocate for skin lesion scoring as a mandatory welfare assessment in farm assurance schemes
Choose farms certified by schemes that publish welfare assessment data including lesion scores