Farm Animals

Pig Welfare: Ear Scoring as Welfare Indicator

Ear lesion scoring is an important welfare outcome measure that reflects aggression levels and social management quality in pig herds.

Key Facts

Ear lesions from biting are scored at slaughter in some EU welfare monitoring systems
High ear lesion scores indicate excessive aggression, often linked to regrouping, stocking density, or enrichment deficits
Ear scoring at slaughter provides population-level welfare data that can be traced to specific farms
Combining ear lesion, tail lesion, and lung lesion data provides a comprehensive welfare profile

Welfare Considerations

Ear scoring is a low-cost, objective welfare assessment that provides insight into the social management quality of pig herds. Making ear lesion data accessible at the farm level creates accountability and enables targeted improvement in social management practices.

What You Can Do

Support welfare benchmarking programmes that include ear lesion scoring
Advocate for ear lesion data to be routinely collected and reported at farm level
Engage with organisations developing integrated welfare scoring systems for pig slaughter