What can pig carcases tell us about farm welfare?

Welfare assessments during production come with time, economic and biosecurity costs, so what are the options for assessing welfare at different stages of the food production chain? Could carcase analysis provide a viable alternative?

6 September 2019

5 minute read

By: Dr Lauren Edwards

Table 1. Advantages and disadvantages of assessing pig welfare at the abattoir
© Lauren Edwards

Table 2. Potential indicators of pig welfare that could be measured during meat inspections
© Lauren Edwards

pig processing line where employees are butchering pig carcasses — While several carcass traits have been related to the housing conditions on farm, there is still a lot of research required to fine tune the inferences that inspectors can make from them

References
References
Carroll, G. A., Boyle, L. A., Hanlon, A., Collins, L., Griffin, K., Friel, M., Armstrong, D. & O’Connell, N. E.
(2018)	What can carcass-based assessments tell us about the lifetime welfare status of pigs?. Livestock Science	214, 98-105
Grandin, T.
(2017)	On-farm conditions that compromise animal welfare that can be monitored at the slaughter plant.. Meat Science	132, 52-58
Harley, S., More, S., Boyle, L., Connell, N. O. & Hanlon, A.
(2012)	Good animal welfare makes economic sense: potential of pig abattoir meat inspection as a welfare surveillance tool.. Irish Veterinary Journal	65, 11-11
Heinonen, M., Bergman, P., Fredriksson-Ahomaa, M., Virtala, A. M., Munsterhjelm, C., Valros, A., Oliviero, C., Peltoniemi, O. & Hälli, O.
(2018)	Sow mortality is associated with meat inspection findings.. Livestock Science	208, 90-95
Van Staaveren, N., Doyle, B., Manzanilla, E. G., Calderón Díaz, J. A., Hanlon, A. & Boyle, L. A.
(2017)	Validation of carcass lesions as indicators for on-farm health and welfare of pigs.. Journal of Animal Science	95, 1528-1536

Dr Lauren Edwards

Lauren completed her PhD in 2009 on the human-animal relationship on caged egg farms, and is currently working at the Animal Welfare Science Centre, University of Melbourne. Her research interests involve using behaviour to assess the welfare of farm animals, particularly chickens, pigs and sheep.