Validation of On-Farm Pig Welfare Indices

This project examined the validity and reliability of the modified animal-based welfare indicators of body condition score, injury score and lameness score, that were identified by APL project 2012/1025.

Value for producers:

• If validated, these can be included in benchmarking protocol for self auditing purposes.
• Lameness, injury and inappropriate body condition are all important issues which have the potential to impact significantly on pig health, welfare and production.

Recommendations:

• Further validity testing is warranted in order to confirm the validity of the indices before they are made available to the industry.