Dear Colleagues,

Legislation on animal welfare and the concerns of civil society require addressing welfare problems related to the housing environment and the management system, commonly associated with intensive pig farming.

As a consequence of those housing and management systems, the behavioral needs of the pigs may not be met, leading to damaging behaviors, such as tail biting, or impaired natural behavior, such as maternal abilities.

To reduce the incidence of tail-biting behavior, tail docking has been used in the pig industry. However, it is a painful procedure which is not allowed to be performed routinely. Tail biting has a multifactorial origin generated from simultaneous environmental, nutritional, and management-based risk factors still to be investigated.

Confinement in a cage is a welfare issue as it reduces exercise and restricts important natural behaviors. The legal requirement for keeping gestating sows in groups four weeks after service seems to expose animals to prolonged physical and emotional limitation, bearing in mind that the majority of sows are still tethered in the farrowing sector.

High piglet mortality represents, as well as an important economic loss for the farmer, a welfare and ethical problem. Genetic selection, which previously aimed to increase litter size, should now be focused on breeding for better survival and more robust sows in order to reduce the mortality.

The surgical castration of male pigs is a common practice among producers with the main aim of improving meat quality by preventing boar taint. Options for pain mitigation or transitioning away from surgical castration should be explored, such as dietary integration in males able to reduce the concentration of the main compounds responsible for boar taint, immune castration, or sex-sorted semen.

Our challenge is to provide scientific evidence regarding the adoption of effective, practicable, and ethically and economically viable strategies for farmed pig. Contributions on any related topics, including, nutrition, management, technical and legislative aspects, in the form of original research papers and literature reviews are welcome in this Special Issue.

Prof. Dr. Grazia Pastorelli
Prof. Dr. Sara Barbieri
Guest Editors

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• pig
• castration
• tail docking
• loose housing system
• dietary strategies
• additives
• piglet mortality
• hyperprolific sow
• sow
• welfare legislation
• health
• meat quality