Welfare Concerns of Intensively-kept Pigs: An Overview

The lecture will explore the main welfare concerns that arise in intensive pig farming in Europe. It will be structured following the four principles of the Welfare Quality® (WQ) assessment protocol, a validated European scientific tool to assess the welfare of farmed animals. For each of the four WQ principles (good feeding, good housing, good health, appropriate behaviour), three main aspects will be developed: 1) a short summary of the requirements detailed in the EU legislation and of the main recommendations for the protection of pigs will be provided; 2) the most common welfare issues that can be observed on farm will be illustrated, using pictures and briefly explaining their causative factors and their importance in terms of animal welfare; 3) lastly, when available and pertinent, findings deriving from personal research activity will also be presented. Overall, this lecture aims to illustrate the complexity and the multifactoriality of several welfare issues in intensive pig farming (for example tail biting, competition for resources, space use, stereotypies, need for manipulable material, etc). The only way to guarantee a good level of welfare to intensively kept pigs is to ensure the prevention and the early identification of these welfare issues through close and careful observation of the animals (both groups and individuals). To this aim, it is essential to have a good knowledge of the needs and the ethology of the species, together with awareness on the appropriate environmental, structural and management modifications to be adopted in order to promptly address the emerging issues.