Editing Intensive pig farming (section)

==Description==
[[File:Pig-breeding-factory.jpg|thumb|Sows in gestation crates]]
[[File:Cerdo Iberico Los Valhondos Pelayos Salamanca.jpg|thumb|A young piglet. Note the dismembered tail to the left.]]
[[File:Results of tail docking a piglet at Iowa Select Farms, taken by Mercy for Animals in 2011.jpg|thumb|The result of [[Docking (animal)|tail docking]] a piglet]]
[[File:Hog confinement barn interior.jpg|thumb|Indoor group pens. Note the slatted floor designed for waste removal.]]
Intensive piggeries are generally large warehouse-like buildings or barns with little exposure to sunlight or the outdoors. Most pigs are officially entitled to less than one square meter of space each.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://pork.ahdb.org.uk/media/276311/keyfiguresbooklet_181001_web.pdf|title=Key figures for pig accommodation in England – legislative requirements|website=AHDB Pork|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190603062725/https://pork.ahdb.org.uk/media/276311/keyfiguresbooklet_181001_web.pdf|archive-date=3 June 2019}}</ref> Indoor pig systems allow many more pigs to be monitored than historical methods, ensuring lowered cost, and increased productivity. Buildings are ventilated and their temperature regulated.

Most domestic pig varieties are susceptible to sunburn and heat stress, and all pigs lack sweat glands and cannot cool themselves. Pigs have a limited tolerance to high temperatures and heat stress can lead to death. Maintaining a more specific temperature within the pig-tolerance range also maximizes growth and growth-to-feed ratio. Indoor piggeries have allowed pig farming to be undertaken in countries or areas with unsuitable climate or soil for outdoor pig raising.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.australianpork.com.au/index.cfm?menuid=31E2978C-B0D0-36D2-5CD946CD05CCD5DE|title=Australian pork page on Pig welfare|website=Australainpork.com.au|access-date=28 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071009223802/http://www.australianpork.com.au/index.cfm?menuid=31E2978C-B0D0-36D2-5CD946CD05CCD5DE|archive-date=9 October 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref> In an intensive operation, pigs no longer need access to a wallow (mud), which is their natural cooling mechanism. Intensive piggeries control temperature through ventilation or drip water systems.

The way animals are housed in intensive systems varies, and depending on economic viability, dry or open time for sows can sometimes be spent in indoor pens or outdoor pens or pastures.

The pigs begin life in a [[Gestation crate|farrowing or gestation crate]], a small pen with a central cage, designed to allow the piglets to feed from their mother, the sow, while preventing her from moving around, crushing her children, and reducing aggression.<ref name="auto">{{cite web |last1=Cutler |first1=R |last2=Holyoake |first2=P |date=2007 |title=The Structure and Dynamics of the Pig Meat Industry, prepared for Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry |url=http://www.agriculture.gov.au/SiteCollectionDocuments/animal-plant/animal-health/livestock-movement/pig-movement-ead.pdf}}</ref> The crates are so small that the pigs cannot turn around.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/478588/Opinion_on_Free_Farrowing_Systems.pdf|title=Opinion on Free Farrowing Systems|website=Farm Animal Welfare Committee|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190403101822/https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/478588/Opinion_on_Free_Farrowing_Systems.pdf|archive-date=3 April 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.viva.org.uk/pigs/farrowing-crate-fact-sheet|title=Farrowing Fact Sheet|date=2016-01-06|website=Viva! - The Vegan Charity|language=en|access-date=2019-06-03|archive-date=2020-10-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201001234048/https://www.viva.org.uk/pigs/farrowing-crate-fact-sheet|url-status=dead}}</ref>

[[Artificial insemination]] is much more common than natural mating, as it allows up to 30-40 female pigs to be impregnated from a single boar.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.vegsoc.org/info-hub/why-go-veggie/animals/pigs/|title=Pigs {{!}} The Vegetarian Society|website=Vegetarian Society|language=en-GB|access-date=2019-06-03}}</ref> Workers collect the semen by masturbating the boars, then insert it into the sows via a raised catheter known as a pork stork.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.daf.qld.gov.au/business-priorities/animal-industries/pigs/improving-your-herd-with-genetics/ai-sows|title=Inseminating sows|publisher=Qld Government Department of Agriculture and Fisheries}}{{Dead link|date=January 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Boars are still physically used to excite the females prior to insemination, but are prevented from actually mating.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.daf.qld.gov.au/business-priorities/animal-industries/pigs/improving-your-herd-with-genetics/collecting-semen-from-boars|title=Collecting semen from boars|publisher=Qld Government Department of Agriculture and Fisheries}}{{Dead link|date=January 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

When confirmed pregnant, sows are moved to farrowing crates, with litter, and will spend their time in gestation crates from before farrowing until weaning.<ref>{{cite web |publisher=Australian Pork Limited |title=Pigs |date=2017 |url=https://aussiepigfarmers.com.au/pigs/our-housing/sow-stalls/ |access-date=2019-06-02 |archive-date=2019-06-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190602022529/https://aussiepigfarmers.com.au/pigs/our-housing/sow-stalls/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> Injections with a high availability iron solution often are given, as [[pig milk|sow's milk]] is low in iron. [[Vitamin D]] supplements are also given to compensate for the lack of sunlight. As the sows' bodies become less capable of handling the large litter sizes encouraged by the industry, the frequency of [[stillborn]] piglets generally increases with each litter.<ref>{{cite web |publisher=Australian Pork Limited |title=Fact Sheet – 'Reproductive Health' |date=2012 |url=https://australianpork.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/FACT-SHEET-Sectn2-Reproductive-loss__APL-Final_Jan-2012.pdf |website=australianpork.com.au |access-date=2019-06-02 |archive-date=2019-03-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190330010949/https://australianpork.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/FACT-SHEET-Sectn2-Reproductive-loss__APL-Final_Jan-2012.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> These high litter sizes have doubled the death rates of sows, and as many as 25%-50% of sow deaths have been caused by [[prolapse]], the collapse of the sow's rectum, vagina, or uterus,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/oct/01/death-rates-surge-female-pigs-us|title='We've bred them to their limit': death rates surge for female pigs in the US|last=Greenaway|first=Twilight|date=2018-10-01|website=The Guardian|language=en|access-date=2018-11-17}}</ref> which can lead to other health problems, including a [[miscarriage]]. Pig breeders repeat the cycle of impregnation and confinement for about 3 to 5 years or until the sow succumbs to her injuries, at which point she is then slaughtered for low-grade meat such as pies, pasties and sausage meat.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Animal FAQs: An Encyclopedia of Animal Abuse|last=Mitchell|first=Angella|publisher=Troubador Publishing|year=2002|isbn=1899293728|pages=133}}</ref>

Of the piglets born alive, 10% to 18% will not make it to weaning age, succumbing to disease, starvation, dehydration, or being accidentally crushed by their trapped mothers.<ref name="Industry Focus">{{cite web |publisher=Australian Pork Limited |title=Industry Focus |url=http://australianpork.com.au/industry-focus/animal-welfare/housing/ |website=australianpork.com.au}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |publisher=Pig Progress |title=Pre-weaning mortality |url=https://www.pigprogress.net/Health/Health-Tool/diseases/Pre-weaning-mortality-/ |website=pigprogress.net|date=13 July 2010 }}</ref> This death toll includes the [[runt]]s, unusually small piglets who are considered economically unviable and killed by staff, typically by blunt trauma to the head.<ref>{{cite book |author=Primary Industries Standing Committee |title=Pigs: Model Code of Practice for the Welfare of Animals |publisher=[[CSIRO Publishing]] |location=Victoria |isbn=978-0-643-09477-2 |oclc=1012550136 |edition=3rd |page=29 |date=May 2008 |url=https://www.publish.csiro.au/book/5698 |access-date=5 September 2024}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.animalaid.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Pigreport.pdf|title=Best of British? The Pig Industry Exposed|website=Animal Aid}}</ref>

Piglets often have the following performed: [[castration]], [[earmark (agriculture)|earmarking]], tattooing for litter identification, tail [[Docking (animal)|docking]], [[teeth clipping]] to prevent [[cannibalism]], instability, aggression, and [[Tail biting in pigs|tail biting]] that is induced by the cramped environment.<ref name="Industry Focus" /><ref>{{Cite journal |doi = 10.2903/j.efsa.2007.611|title = The risks associated with tail biting in pigs and possible means to reduce the need for tail docking considering the different housing and husbandry systems - Scientific Opinion of the Panel on Animal Health and Welfare|journal = EFSA Journal|volume = 5|issue = 12|pages = 611|year = 2007|doi-access = free}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Cutler |first1=R |last2=Holyoake |first2=P |date=2007 |title=The Structure and Dynamics of the Pig Meat Industry, prepared for Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry |url=http://www.agriculture.gov.au/SiteCollectionDocuments/animal-plant/animal-health/livestock-movement/pig-movement-ead.pdf |website=agriculture.gov.au}}</ref> Because [[anesthetic]] is not legally mandated and often economically unviable, these invasive procedures are usually done without any pain killers.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.aussiepigs.com/gallery/videos |title=Video Gallery |website=aussiepigs.com |access-date=2019-06-02 |archive-date=2019-06-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190602015527/https://www.aussiepigs.com/gallery/videos |url-status=dead }}</ref> While wild piglets remain with their mothers for around 12 to 14 weeks, farmed piglets are [[wean]]ed and removed from their mothers at between two and five weeks old.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.ciwf.org.uk/farm-animals/pigs/pig-welfare/|title=Pig welfare|website=ciwf.org.uk|language=en|access-date=2019-06-03}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://nationalhogfarmer.com/mag/farming_revisiting_weaning_age/|title=Revisiting Weaning Age Trends, Dynamics|date=15 October 2005|website=Nationalhogfarmer.com|access-date=28 July 2017}}</ref> They are then placed in sheds, nursery barns or directly to growout barns. While capable of living 10–12 years, most pigs are [[Pig farming#Pig slaughter|slaughtered]] when they are 5–6 months old.<ref name="auto" /><ref>{{cite web|url=https://aussiepigfarmers.com.au/pigs/our-animals/reproduction/|title=Pigs: Production Cycle|publisher=Australian Pork|access-date=2019-06-02|archive-date=2019-06-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190602022342/https://aussiepigfarmers.com.au/pigs/our-animals/reproduction/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Indoor systems allow for the easy collection of waste. In an indoor intensive pig farm, manure can be managed through a [[anaerobic lagoon|lagoon system]] or other waste-management system. However, waste smell remains a problem which is difficult to manage.<ref>{{cite conference |url=http://asae.frymulti.com/abstract.asp?aid=15521&t=2 |title=Spatial Variability Of Odor Emissions From Anaerobic Piggery Lagoons In Queensland |author1=G. Galvin |author2=K.D. Casey S.A. Lowe |author3=N.A. Hudson |author4=M.A. Atzeni |author5=E.J. McGahan |date=12 October 2003 |book-title=Air Pollution from Agricultural Operations III, Proceedings of the 12–15 October 2003 Conference (Research Triangle Park, North Carolina USA) |publisher=American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers |location=St. Joseph, MI |pages=292–302 |id=701P1403 |access-date=30 April 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928051034/http://asae.frymulti.com/abstract.asp?aid=15521&t=2 |archive-date=28 September 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Pigs in the wild or on open farmland are naturally clean animals.<ref name="Industry Focus"/>