Pigs: Behavior and Welfare Assessment

Compromised welfare leads to reduction in productivity and market forces can have negative effects when the welfare is shown to be poor. Thus, compromised animal welfare affects the economic sustainability of animal agriculture in more than one way. Without objective quantification, a compromise in welfare cannot be approved nor can the efficacy of corrective measures be assessed. Behavioral changes are the first and obvious indicators of compromised welfare in animals, though the identification of the same requires thorough knowledge about the normal behavior of the species concerned.