Findings from Real Welfare surveys so far suggest their care of sick and injured pigs is generally good.

The data is also adding useful information to the industry’s discussion on how hospital pens can be used to greatest benefit, an area the Danes are also looking closely at.

As reported in Pig World recently, over half of units inspected in Denmark were found to be lacking in their management of hospital pens and there is now a drive to improve this.

Once the BPEX Real Welfare project is complete and the data collected from hundreds of farms is checked for robustness, it will help English producers maintain and demonstrate their good welfare standards. And this in turn should bring marketing as well as welfare advantages.