WelFarmers: European project to award best practice in pig welfare

Since 1st January 2024 and for three years, pig farmers, research centers and higher education institutions will be working together in the EU-funded project ‘WelFarmers’.

In this project, included in the Horizon Europe Program, a total of seventeen partners will work in a consortium formed by eight European countries, where more than 50% of the pig production in Europe is represented.

WelFarmers aims to identify, evaluate and award good practices in animal welfare on farms in the eight participating countries. The awarded practices will not only be described in relation to pig welfare, but also their environmental and economic impact will be evaluated.

The four thematic groups on pig welfare that WelFarmers will work on are:

• Ban of cages- Loose housing of lactating sows.
• Undocked tails- Production of pigs with non-docked tails.
• Castration- Avoiding pain in castration.
• Space/flooring- Space allowance and flooring for growers and finishers

All the information about the project (“Good Practices”, technical articles, abstracts, webinars, virtual farm tours, etc.) will be available through pig333.com, partner of the project.