Pig welfare requirements

• Pig must be provided with at least 40-lux light intensity for at least eight hours/day.
• Continuous noise levels as loud as 85 decibels shall be avoided in pig housing.
• All pigs must be fed at least once/day. Where pigs are not fed ad libitum, each pig within the group must have access to feed at the same time as other pigs in the group.
• All pigs over two weeks of age must have permanent access to fresh water.
• Tail docking or teeth clipping must not be carried out routinely but only where there is evidence that injuries to sows teats or other pigs have occurred. However, other measures must be taken to prevent these vices before the procedures can be carried out.
• Piglets cannot be weaned from the sow at less than 28 days of age, unless the welfare or health of the sow or piglets would be adversely affected. However, piglets may be weaned up to seven days earlier if they are moved into specialised housing which has been emptied, thoroughly washed and disinfected.
• All pigs in groups must have permanent access to manipulable material (for example, rope, balls, chain) to enable proper investigation and manipulation activities.
• The unobstructed floor area available to each weaner or rearing pig, excluding gilts after service must be at least:

• Dry sows and gilts must be given a sufficient quantity of bulky or high fibre food as well as high energy food to satisfy their hunger and need to chew.
• During the week before farrowing, sows and gilts must be given suitable nesting material unless this is not feasible due to the slurry system that is in use.
• An unobstructed area behind the sow or gilt must be available for ease of natural or assisted farrowing.
• Part of the farrowing pen floor, must be solid or covered with a mat or littered with suitable material. This area should be large enough to allow all the piglets to rest together at the same time.

• Boar pens must be sited and constructed to allow the boar to turn round and to hear, smell and see other pigs. The unobstructed floor area available to an adult boar must be at least 6m2. Where pens are also used for natural service the floor area available to an adult boar must be at least 10m2 and the pen free of any obstacles.

• For sows and served gilts the total unobstructed floor area required is 1.65m2 (17.6ft2) and 2.25m2 (24.2ft2) respectively. Where sows and gilts are kept in groups of less than six, the floor area must be increased by 10%, that is, 26.5ft2. A reduction of 10% is allowed where group size is greater than 40.
• A continuous solid area of at least 0.95m2 (10.2ft2) per served gilt and 1.3m2 (14ft2) per sow must be provided. The slats can contribute to the solid area provided the drainage area, that is, the total area of all the slats does not exceed 15% of the total floor area.
• The pen where sows and gilts are kept must have sides greater than 2.8m. However, if less than six sows or gilts are kept together, the length of the sides can be reduced to 2.4m.