Delayed weaning better for piglet welfare

More piglets per sow yields more income. This has been the trend for years and the simplest way to achieve it is to wean the piglets sooner rather than later. Piglets can be weaned at 21 days with specially designed piglet breeding spaces. Early weaning was the method of choice before animal welfare and reduction of antibiotics became more important. This is about to change. The early weaning trend is losing ground to the trend of delayed weaning at around 5 weeks, or 35 days. However, delayed