Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

Sweden's pig production is regulated by legislation that sets high standards for animal welfare. As
a result, Swedish pigs generally have a high level of animal welfare. Currently, there is no welfare
assessment tool specifically adapted to Swedish pig production. This thesis was part of the project
"Ask the Pig", which aims to develop a welfare tool tailored for Swedish pig production and to be
used for advisory and benchmarking purposes. The aim of the thesis was to quantify and describe
the variation in animal-based welfare indicators in Swedish pig production. The study included
data from 27 commercial pig farms in Sweden, which were assessed as medium to large in herd
size. Data were collected from welfare assessments conducted between July 2022 and September
2023. 11 animal-based welfare indicators were evaluated on-site, either at unit, pen, or sow level,
depending on the indicator. The assessments were carried out across all sow unit types (farrowing,
gestation, and mating). The results show that almost all of the indicators included in the study
could be observed at least once during the farm assessments. The findings revealed substantial
difference between farms in the prevalence of most of the examined indicators and identified
associations between the indicators that could be of practical relevance. The study demonstrates
that there is room for improvement in animal welfare on Swedish pig farms and that all the
indicators assessed in the study should be included in a future welfare assessment tool. Future
research of interest is to investigate the factors underlying the observed variation, as well as the
general associations between welfare indicators.