Introduction:Piglet facial and sow teat lesions are the main reported reasons why pig producers routinely practice teeth resection. This is a painful procedure performed on piglets, where their needle teeth are clipped or ground to resect the pointed tip. The practice raises welfare concerns. In contrast to other procedures, such as tail docking, we know little about the risk factors for these two types of lesions.Methods:We employed two methods to answer these questions: (1) reviewing the literature to identify potential risk factors, and (2) surveying pig production stakeholders worldwide to identify the occurrence of these lesions and the strategies used in practice that enable pig producers to manage or prevent these lesions while avoiding teeth resection. For the literature review, we used Google Scholar to include peer-reviewed publications and gray literature. We distributed the survey using convenience sampling and documented information on the current situation regarding teeth resection, including the methods, frequencies, and reasons for resecting piglets' teeth, the occurrence of piglet facial and sow teat lesions, and measures used to prevent and control these lesions.Results:The literature review identified six major risk factors for both lesions, including the presence or absence of teeth resection, housing system, litter size, piglet management, environmental enrichment, milk production and other piglet management practices. However, most studies focused on the effects of the first two factors with very few studies investigating the other risk factors. There were 75 responses to the survey from 17 countries. The survey showed that half of the respondents practiced teeth resection with many recognizing that facial and teat lesions are the main reasons behind this practice. However, many producers used other interventions rather than teeth resection to prevent these lesions. These interventions focused on improving milk production of the sow, managing large litters, and providing environmental enrichment.Discussion:More research is needed to validate these interventions and more science-based advice is needed to bridge the gap between research and practice to help more producers further understand the cause of piglet facial and sow teat lesions to transition toward the cessation of routine teeth resection.

Abstract Painful procedures performed on piglets are one of the most important welfare concerns of intensive pig production. For example, teeth resection is a common practice whereby the canine (needle) teeth are clipped or ground to prevent piglet facial and sow teat lesions. Based on a global consumer survey in 2018, 60% of respondents will potentially stop purchasing pork from pigs experiencing painful procedures. In contrast to tail docking and surgical castration, little is known about the risk factors for piglet facial and sow teat lesions and therefore the need for teeth resection. We reviewed the literature to better understand these risk factors and conducted a survey to identify preventative strategies in practice that have enabled producers to avoid teeth resection. For the literature review, we used Web of Science and Google Scholar to include peer-reviewed publications and gray literature. The questionnaire was distributed with convenience sampling to relevant stakeholders. In the questionnaire, information on current on-farm practices regarding teeth resection was collected, including the method, frequency, and reason for conducting teeth resection, and preventative measures used. Preliminary findings of the literature review showed that most studies only focused on teeth resection and its effect on piglet facial and sow teat lesions. Other risk factors identified are litter size, farrowing system and flooring, milk production, management of fostering, flooring, and enrichment. The survey is ongoing and the complete results will be presented during the conference. Our review suggests many risk factors are related to piglet facial and sow teat lesions other than whether or not teeth resection is carried out. There is still a knowledge gap in the understanding of how alleviating these risk factors can prevent said lesions, and further research and dissemination of best practice is needed to explore different solutions instead of solely relying on teeth resection.

Science has defined the characteristics of effective environmental enrichment for pigs. We provide an overview of progress towards the provision of pig enrichment in the three largest global pork producing regions. In the USA, enrichment has not yet featured on the policy agenda, nor appeared on farms, except when required by certain farm assurance schemes. China has very limited legal animal welfare provisions and public awareness of animal welfare is very low. Food safety concerns severely restrict the use of substrates (as enrichment) on farms. Providing enrichment to pigs is a legal requirement in the EU. In practice, enrichment is not present, or simple (point-source) objects are provided which have no enduring value. Other common issues are the provision of non-effective or hazardous objects, inadequate presentation, location, quantity and size or inadequate maintenance of enrichment. Improvements can be made by applying principles from the field of experimental analysis of behaviour to evaluate the effectiveness of enrichment; providing welfare knowledge transfer, including training and advisory services; highlighting the economic benefits of effective enrichment and focusing on return on investment; increasing pressure from the financial sector; using novel drivers of change, such as public business benchmarking. The poor implementation of scientific knowledge on farms suggests that the pig industry has not fully embraced the benefits of effective enrichment and is still a long way off achieving an enriched pig population.

Cytokines are cell signalling proteins that mediate a number of different physiological responses. The accurate measurement of cytokine profiles is important for a variety of diagnostic and prognostic scenarios in relation to animal health and welfare. Simultaneous quantification of cytokine profiles in a single sample is now possible using fluorescent microsphere immunoassays (FMIA). We describe the development and validation of a novel multiplex assay using the Bio-Plex® 200 system to quantify cytokines in five different porcine tissues (brain, placenta, synovial tissue and fluid, plasma). The cytokine profiles are both tissue, and research hypothesis, -dependent but include Interleukin-1beta (IL-1β), Interleukin-4 (IL-4), Interleukin-6 (IL-6), Interleukin-8 (IL-8), Interleukin-10 (IL-10) and Tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α). This methods paper is reported in two parts: the development of a FMIA for porcine tissues and validation of pre-treatment for optimal cytokine recovery in porcine brain, placenta, synovial tissue and plasma. Validation steps are critical in ensuring an assay is suitable for novel sample types. This technique advances traditional ELISAs by: •FMIA provides insight into the profiles of multiple porcine cytokines in certain situations (e.g. disease, parturition).•Use of the Bio-Plex® 200 system to investigate novel sample types, including brain, placenta and synovial tissue.•Multiplexing utilises a fraction of the sample volume compared with multiple ELISAs.

Giving birth is a critical time for many species and is often the most painful event ever experienced by females. In domestic species, like the pig, pain associated with parturition represents a potential welfare concern, and the consequences of pain can cause economic losses (e.g., by indirectly contributing to piglet mortality as pain could slow post-farrowing recovery, reduce food and water intake, reducing milk let-down). This study investigated pain assessment and its management in primiparous (gilts) and multiparous (sows) breeding pigs, including the provision of a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) post-parturition. Individuals were randomly allocated to receive the NSAID ketoprofen (3 mg/kg bodyweight) (n = 11 gilts, 16 sows) or the equivalent volume of saline (n = 13 gilts, 16 sows) by intramuscular injection 1.5 h after the birth of the last piglet. Data collected included putative behavioral indicators of pain (back leg forward, tremble, back arch), salivary cortisol concentrations pre-farrowing and up to 7 days post-injection. In addition, post-partum biomarkers of inflammation, including the acute phase protein C-reactive protein (CRP) and 3 porcine cytokines [interleukin-1 β (IL1 β), interleukin-6 (IL6), and tumor necrosis factor α (TNF α)] were measured in plasma collected 6 h following the injection. Behaviors were analyzed using generalized linear mixed models, and physiological variables with linear mixed models. No difference in putative pain behaviors, salivary cortisol, CRP, or cytokines were found between individuals treated with ketoprofen or those administered the saline control. However, there were some differences between gilts and sows, as sows exhibited more putative pain behavior than gilts, had higher salivary cortisol on the day of farrowing and had higher plasma TNF α. Conversely, gilts had higher salivary cortisol than sows on day 3 post-farrowing and had higher CRP. This indicates that, like human females, multiparous sows experience more pain from uterine activity following birth than primiparas. This study provides useful information for developing management practices relating to post-farrowing care for breeding pigs.

Inter-pig aggression is a welfare issue that has undergone extensive research. Although management techniques have proven useful in minimising aggression in research settings, it is not known how often these are used on farm. One objective of an online survey of North American pork producers was to learn about the housing, ease of handling, and management of nursery to finishing pigs, including what techniques were used to minimise aggression, how useful they were perceived to be and what were potential barriers to their use. Respondents were given a list of techniques to select which ones they used, and indicate how useful they perceived them to be on a five-point scale ('very useful' to 'not useful at all'). A step-wise binomial logistic regression was used to analyse the association between other factors and whether or not respondents reported that at least one technique was used. Respondents (n = 298), had nursery (11,604 4032, range: 1-950,000) and/or finishing pigs (18,999 5789, range: 2-1,500,000), or did not currently have pigs but answered the questions, at the time the survey was completed. Some had pigs of both stages (n = 181), and some had just nursery (n = 24), or finishing (n = 89) pigs. When asked if they regularly re-grouped unfamiliar pigs, 36% of all respondents selected yes (33% at nursery, 25% at finishing). Of all respondents, 53% reported using at least one technique to minimise regrouping aggression. Techniques reported from most to least useful included: pre-weaning piglet socialisation (n = 19), using mixed weight pens (n = 9), night-time mixing (n = 50), mixing all pigs to a new pen (n = 108), barriers (n = 25), using specific mixing pens (n = 21), odour masking agents (n = 38), pre-exposure in a neighbouring pen (n = 45), and enrichment devices (n = 41). After stepwise selection, the best regression model for predicting the odds of using at least one technique included the factor pig stage (nursery, finisher, or both), as farms specialising in either nursery (P < 0.001) or finishing pigs (P < 0.001) only, had increased log odds of using a technique. Those that did not mix regularly had reduced odds (P < 0.001) of using a technique, and those that used bedding tended to have increased odds of using a technique (P = 0.08). Overall, producers avoided mixing unfamiliar pigs, but for systems in which regular mixing was used, techniques were more likely to be implemented to help minimise aggression. However, over a third of respondents who reported that they did not regularly mix at any stage, still indicated that they used at least one technique.

Commercial pigs globally are routinely mixed into new social groups. This results in regrouping aggression predominantly during the first 24 h which compromises welfare and productivity. Chronic aggression persists thereafter and is also undesirable. Management strategies are needed that reduce the costs of aggression in both of these contexts. Pigs vary greatly in aggressive behaviour and numbers of skin lesions. This study examined how regrouping behaviour affects immediate and long-term lesion counts with a specific focus on understanding the behaviour of pigs with few lesions in both social contexts. Aggressive behaviour from 1163 growing pigs was observed for 24 h post-regrouping and fresh lesions were counted 24 h and 3 weeks post-regrouping. Similarity between pigs was calculated using all behavioural traits recorded during the 24 h post-regrouping. Clusters of pigs were formed using furthest neighbour clustering with a stopping rule of 80% similarity. Five clusters of pigs representing 90% of the population (1047 pigs) were identified. For each regrouping aggressive behaviour trait and for fresh lesion counts 24 h post-regrouping the means differed significantly (P < 0.0001) between clusters. The most extreme clusters were characterised by extremely high or low levels of aggression with the other three clusters characterised by pigs that were unaggressive losers, selectively aggressive or with long fights. Statistically significant (P < 0.05-P < 0.001) but numerically small differences between clusters were found in lesion count 3 weeks post-regrouping. Pigs were separately categorised based upon their combination of lesion counts recorded 24h and 3 weeks post-regrouping. Pigs showing similar behaviour at regrouping displayed wide ranging combinations of acute and chronic lesion outcomes. Pigs with particularly low lesion counts at both regrouping and 3 weeks post-regrouping were found in all 5 clusters. Avoidance of aggressive behaviour at regrouping resulted in few lesions at 24 h but more lesions at 3 weeks. Increasing the proportion of pigs in the population that receive few lesions from both regrouping and chronic aggression may require management strategies that manipulate behaviour in both contexts. Long-term costs of avoiding regrouping aggression, represented by lesion counts three weeks after re-grouping, show that regrouping aggression may retain an important function in domesticated pigs and potentially in other species. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Farrowing is a critical time for sows and piglets. Poor post-farrowing sow recovery, and piglet mortality represent a welfare concern, as well as an economic loss to the pig industry. Providing a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) to the sow post-farrowing may improve sow welfare and productivity and thereby improve health status and welfare of the piglets, which would be of economic benefit to pig producers. This study investigated the production effects of providing the NSAID ketoprofen post-farrowing, to 24 primiparous (gilts) and 32 multiparous (sows) breeding pigs, in a randomised, blinded, placebo-controlled trial. Gilts and sows were allocated to receive ketoprofen (treated) or the equivalent volume of saline (control) by intramuscular injection 1.5h after the last piglet birth. Data collected included sow feed intake, immune transfer (colostrum and piglet serum immunoglobulin-G (IgG)), nursing behaviour and piglet weight, and mortality. An additional factor in this study was that 13 individuals required additional treatment in the days after farrowing for post-farrowing illness. Therefore, data were analysed using mixed models, including treatment (treated or control), parity group (gilt or sow), and additional treatment (yes or no) as fixed factors. Stepwise binomial logistic regression was used to analyse the association between the experimental factors (treatment, additional treatment, gilt or sow), along with other gilt/sow, litter, and piglet-based measures, with piglet death before weaning. Few treatment effects were seen, with parameters being more affected by whether gilts and sows were treated for illness, or between gilts and sows. The only variable to differ by treatment was suckle grunt duration, which was greater for control compared with treated dams (P = 0.05). Feed consumption was greater for sows compared with gilts on days 6 and 7 post-farrowing, and serum IgG was greater in piglets from sows than gilts (P < 0.05). Feed consumption was reduced in dams needing additional treatment, from days 2–7 post-farrowing, and those developing illness consumed less feed overall (P = 0.004). The best regression model for predicting the odds of a piglet dying before weaning included number born alive (P = 0.03), requiring additional treatment (P = 0.006), being male (P = 0.0005), and pre-farrowing gilt/sow back-fat (P < 0.0001), which increased the log-odds of death, whereas, piglet body weight decreased the log-odds of death (P < 0.0001). This study did not demonstrate clear benefits to ketoprofen, however, high individual variation in piglet mortality, indicates potential for targeted NSAID use.

There is a moral obligation to minimize pain in pigs used for human benefit. In livestock production, pigs experience pain caused by management procedures, e.g., castration and tail docking, injuries from fighting or poor housing conditions, "management diseases" like mastitis or streptococcal meningitis, and at parturition. Pigs used in biomedical research undergo procedures that are regarded as painful in humans, but do not receive similar levels of analgesia, and pet pigs also experience potentially painful conditions. In all contexts, accurate pain assessment is a prerequisite in (a) the estimation of the welfare consequences of noxious interventions and (b) the development of more effective pain mitigation strategies. This narrative review identifies the sources of pain in pigs, discusses the various assessment measures currently available, and proposes directions for future investigation.

Farrowing is an important period in pig production, with sow health and piglet mortality representing a welfare issue and an economic loss. Sow health and welfare is critical for piglet survival and good management can improve welfare and productivity. This study investigated the management of sows around farrowing and attitudes of UK pig farmers towards sow pain and difficulty farrowing. Farmers were asked how often they provided night checks, used farrowing induction and administered pharmaceutical products during and after farrowing. Farmers and veterinarians were asked if they used or prescribed anti-inflammatories for farrowing-related health issues. Farmers were asked if pain at farrowing was a problem for gilts and sows and what percentage they considered to have difficulty farrowing. Convenience sampling using a number of distribution methods was used. Sixty-one farmers and 52 veterinarians responded. Of the farmer respondents, ten worked on outdoor and 51 on indoor farms. Night checks were reported as frequently provided and farrowing induction was rare. Many respondents reported using oxytocin substitutes at least sometimes during (74%) or after (54%) farrowing. Azaperone was reported to be used at least sometimes by 45% of respondents during and 33% after farrowing. Farmers indicated that pain at farrowing was more often a problem for gilts than sows and 5% of gilts and 4% of sows were considered to have farrowing difficulty. The high level of supervision around farrowing, with the use of night checks, is encouraging and could improve welfare. Frequent use of oxytocin substitutes, which promote farrowing and milk let-down may negatively impact sow and piglet welfare and could be masking poor mothers that fail to perform well without intervention. This study provides interesting information regarding the management of sows around farrowing, which could inform future research and education to improve sow and piglet welfare in the periparturient period.

Periparturient pain is a welfare concern and could contribute to piglet losses. This has led to studies investigating post-farrowing analgesia. A clear reduction in pain has not been demonstrated, partly due to a lack of pain indicators. This study quantified behaviours as potential pain indicators (PPIn) in sows: i) before, during and after farrowing, and ii) 2min before and after piglet births. Twenty-five sows were observed during and after, and ten pre-farrowing. Behaviour recorded included: 1) back leg forward (back leg pulled forward and/or in); 2) tremble (movement as if shivering); 3) back arch (leg(s) stretch forming an arched back); 4) paw (leg scraped in pawing motion); and 5) tail flick (tail moved rapidly up and down). Behaviours were analysed using generalized linear models and Spearman's rank correlations. All PPIn were rare or absent pre-farrowing, highest during farrowing, and back leg forward, tremble and back arch were greater in the early post-farrowing period. Several significant positive correlations between PPIn during and post-farrowing were found. Back arch, tail flick and paw were higher before than after a piglet birth, and were more frequent earlier in the birth order. Back leg forward and tremble did not differ before and after births, and tremble increased with birth order. These behaviours, which were absent or rare pre-farrowing, present during farrowing and were lower afterwards, and showed consistent individual variation, may be quantitatively associated with pain. Spontaneous behaviours could be used to test the efficacy of analgesics or identify sows that may benefit.

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To limit tail biting incidence, most pig producers in Europe tail dock their piglets. This is despite EU Council Directive 2008/120/EC banning routine tail docking and allowing it only as a last resort. The paper aims to understand what it takes to fulfil the intentions of the Directive by examining economic results of four management and housing scenarios, and by discussing their consequences for animal welfare in the light of legal and ethical considerations. The four scenarios compared are: 'Standard Docked', a conventional housing scenario with tail docking meeting the recommendations for Danish production (0.7 m2/pig); 'Standard Undocked', which is the same as 'Standard Docked' but with no tail docking, 'Efficient Undocked' and 'Enhanced Undocked', which have increased solid floor area (0.9 and 1.0 m2/pig, respectively) provision of loose manipulable materials (100 and 200 g/straw per pig per day) and no tail docking. A decision tree model based on data from Danish and Finnish pig production suggests that Standard Docked provides the highest economic gross margin with the least tail biting. Given our assumptions, Enhanced Undocked is the least economic, although Efficient Undocked is better economically and both result in a lower incidence of tail biting than Standard Undocked but higher than Standard Docked. For a pig, being bitten is worse for welfare (repeated pain, risk of infections) than being docked, but to compare welfare consequences at a farm level means considering the number of affected pigs. Because of the high levels of biting in Standard Undocked, it has on average inferior welfare to Standard Docked, whereas the comparison of Standard Docked and Enhanced (or Efficient) Undocked is more difficult. In Enhanced (or Efficient) Undocked, more pigs than in Standard Docked suffer from being tail bitten, whereas all the pigs avoid the acute pain of docking endured by the pigs in Standard Docked. We illustrate and discuss this ethical balance using numbers derived from the above-mentioned data. We discuss our results in the light of the EU Directive and its adoption and enforcement by Member States. Widespread use of tail docking seems to be accepted, mainly because the alternative steps that producers are required to take before resorting to it are not specified in detail. By tail docking, producers are acting in their own best interests. We suggest that for the practice of tail docking to be terminated in a way that benefits animal welfare, changes in the way pigs are housed and managed may first be required.

Piglet survival relies on interactive influences of the sow, her piglets and their environment. There are a number of design challenges in a loose-housed farrowing and lactation system to optimise this dynamic, including achieving farrowing in the desired location (i.e. a protected nest area) and minimising crushings. The PigSAFE (Piglet and Sow Alternative Farrowing Environment) pen was developed with these challenges in mind. It has different areas to fulfil different biological and managerial needs, including a solid-floored nest area with piglet protection features (sloped walls, heated creep) intended for farrowing. Two hypotheses regarding pen design features to optimise farrowing location and improve piglet survival were tested: (i) greater space would improve maternal behaviour; and (ii) a heated nest-site would be more attractive to the farrowing sow. PigSAFE was adapted to give a LARGE treatment, 9.7 m(2) in total with a nest area of 4.0 m(2), and a SMALL treatment, same design but 7.9 m(2) in total with a nest area of 3.3 m(2). The nest floor was heated to either 30 degrees C (T30) or 20 degrees C (T20) from 48 h before until 24 h after farrowing. A 2 x 2 factorial design saw 88 Large White x Landrace sows randomly assigned to space and temperature treatments. Generalised linear mixed models were used to analyse performance data. Farrowing location analysis involved dividing the pen into seven areas (L1-L7); L1 deemed the safest location for the piglets to be born (in the nest, furthest from dunging area, closest to creep) and L7 the least protected (in the dunging area). Of all the piglets born 97% were born in the nest area. The majority of sows started farrowing in L1 (56%), with 39% of remaining piglets being born in this location. There was a significant Space x Temperature interaction for farrowing location (P = 0.011) with SMALLT20 achieving the most L1 births. Temperature had no significant influence on piglet survival (Total mortality P = 0.401; Live-born mortality P = 0.826). However space influenced mortality, with significantly greater live-born mortality when sows were afforded a larger farrowing space (LARGE = 18.1% vs. SMALL = 10.9% P = 0.028). There were no significant interactions between space and temperature for either total mortality (P = 0.394) or live-born mortality (P = 0.685). The overall design successfully promoted farrowing in the nest location, irrespective of nest size and floor temperature. The higher piglet mortality in the LARGE treatment suggests that the larger nest size was less protective for the piglets and thus a smaller nest, within an adequate total pen size for differentiation of functional areas, would be recommended. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Individual variation in the reproductive performance of sows has the potential for greater negative impacts in loose-farrowing systems. Therefore, the ability to select gilts that will perform well would be a major advantage. This study investigated the behaviour of gilts during pre-pubertal tests and farrowing behaviour in conventional crates and PigSAFE (Piglet and Sow Alternative Farrowing Environment) pens. Gilts underwent two phases of behavioural testing. First, gilts were subjected to three individual human interaction and three startle object tests randomly allocated to test sessions over 3 days (i.e. gilts had either a human or startle test first). Three weeks later, gilts underwent three human interaction and three novel object tests, in their stable group of six. Gilts farrowed in individual PigSAFE pens or conventional crates and behaviour was observed for 8 h from the first piglet birth. Data were analysed using linear mixed models and Spearman's rank correlations. A novel finding was the effect of individual test order: gilts that had the human interaction or startle object test first behaved differently. The first test was different whichever test type, with a higher latency to interact with the object or human, and gilts experiencing the startle test first interacted more with the human in all three subsequent tests. Gilts farrowing in crates and pens showed differences in behaviour, most notably, a lower frequency of piglet-directed aggression was seen in pens (P < 0.05). Piglet-directed aggression was studied further by comparing gilts that exhibited no aggression, to those showing aggressive behaviour, but no injurious biting, to those causing injury or death. This latter severely aggressive group spent more time alert, piglet focused and standing (P < 0.05) compared with the other two groups and tended to show greater (P < 0.1) contact duration in the first individual pre-pubertal test. Gilts that crushed one or more piglets were slower (P = 0,038) to contact either the human or startle object in the first individual test, than those that did not crush. The impact of first individual test on behaviour in subsequent tests indicates that previous test experience could be influencing subsequent behaviour. Differences in gilts showing severe piglet-directed aggression and between 'crushers' and 'non-crushers' suggests that it could be possible to use pre-pubertal behaviour to predict maternal ability. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Numerous studies have shown that prenatal stress (PNS) can have profound effects on postnatal well-being. Here, the domestic pig (Sus scrofa) was used to investigate PNS effects owing to the direct relevance for farm animal welfare and the developing status of the pig as a large animal model in translational research. Pregnant primiparous sows were exposed, in mid-gestation, to either a social stressor (mixing with unfamiliar conspecifics) or were kept in stable social groups. The ratio of levels of mRNAs for corticotropin releasing hormone (CRH) receptors 1 and 2 in the amygdala, measured for the first time in the pig, was substantially increased in 10-week-old female, but not male, PNS progeny indicating a neurobiological propensity for anxiety-related behaviour. Mature female offspring were observed at parturition in either a behaviourally restrictive crate or open pen. Such PNS sows showed abnormal maternal behaviour in either environment, following the birth of their first piglet. They spent more time lying ventrally, more time standing and showed a higher frequency of posture changes. They were also more reactive towards their piglets, and spent longer visually attending to their piglets compared to controls. Associated with this abnormal maternal care, piglet mortality was increased in the open pen environment, where protection for piglets is reduced. Overall, these data indicate that PNS females have their brain development shifted towards a pro-anxiety phenotype and that PNS can be causally related to subsequent impaired maternal behaviour in adult female offspring.

A survey of UK-based pig farmers and veterinarians was conducted, in order to investigate attitudes to pain and the use of pain relief in pigs. Survey respondents were asked to indicate which anti-inflammatory drugs they used or prescribed for pigs, how often these were administered, and the level of pain they associated with particular conditions. The survey found that veterinarians used a range of anti-inflammatory products to treat pigs with lameness. While both farmers and veterinarians gave similar pain scores overall, farmers rated gastrointestinal disease as more painful and conversely veterinarians scored lameness higher. Female and younger respondents gave higher pain scores than males and older respondents. Overall, farmers and veterinarians had a positive attitude towards pain relief in pigs with the majority agreeing that animals recovered more promptly when pain relief was administered. Most farmers agreed that the recognition and management of pain is an important part of pig husbandry, and many expressed an interest in finding out more about identifying pain in this species as well as the treatment options available. The study highlighted potential barriers to the increased application of pain relief in pigs in that almost one-third of veterinarians and two-thirds of farmers did not agree that they discussed pain management with each other, while other respondents indicated that they found it difficult to recognise pain in pigs, and did not know how to treat it appropriately.