Farm Animal Welfare

Pig Welfare and Breeding Programme Reform

Genetic selection in commercial pigs has prioritised growth rate and leanness, sometimes at the expense of welfare-relevant traits. Breeding programmes that include welfare traits offer systemic improvement.

Key Facts

Selection for extreme muscle growth in Pietrain and Hampshire crosses can reduce cardiovascular resilience
Leg weakness and locomotory problems increase in some lines selected primarily for rapid growth
Maternal traits including teat number, milking ability and temperament affect piglet welfare
Genetic selection for pain tolerance has been proposed as a tool to reduce pain experience
Novel welfare genomics approaches are identifying markers associated with positive emotional states

Welfare Considerations

Genetics is a powerful but underutilised welfare lever. Incorporating welfare-relevant traits including leg integrity, temperament and pain threshold into breeding indices can improve welfare across entire pig populations.

What You Can Do

Advocate for welfare trait inclusion in pig breeding indices used by major genetics companies
Support research into genetic markers for pig welfare including positive emotional states
Choose pork from farms using breeding lines with verified welfare performance