This project aims to identify indicators of animal welfare to develop an on-site pig welfare benchmarking tool. This project was funded by Australian Pork Limited and the Department of Agriculture.
Value for producers:
- Developed on-site pig welfare benchmarking protocol that is applicable to sows and growing/finishing pigs across all stages of production and within all forms of production system.
- Enables producers to monitor pig welfare over time, to demonstrate improvement in animal welfare outcomes over time, to identify areas of improvement for pig welfare, and to compare pig welfare across units in multisite enterprises.
Recommendations:
- Further scientific validation of these measurements are needed
- Future project to evaluate the reliability, repeatability and validity of the piloted animal-based welfare indicators and the recommended on-farm application method.
