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The WelFarmers project, funded by the Horizon Europe programme, has reached a key milestone with the announcement of the 12 winning good practices selected in the first round of evaluations. These practices were identified across four major pig welfare themes: ban of cages, pigs with undocked tails, avoiding pain in castration, space allowance and flooring.
The winners were chosen following a rigorous evaluation process. First, each Regional Network (from Denmark, Finland, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Romania, France, and Ireland) identified and submitted promising practices. Then, four Thematic Groups—comprising farmers, policymakers, competent authorities, advisors, scientists, and food chain representatives—assessed the proposals and selected a shortlist of 20 Best Practices (5 per topic).
Finally, each Regional Network voted to determine the top 3 winning practices per topic, resulting in a total of 12 winners:
| TOPIC | BEST PRACTICE WINNERS (1st Round) | ||
| Ban of cages | Easy access to piglets | Loose lactation & piglet comingling | MamaGuide |
| Pigs with undocked tails | Happy Tail | Risk assessment tool | More and changing rooting material |
| Avoiding pain castration | Enhancing the value of immunocastration (Vaccine) | Rationalising the practice of immunocastration (Vaccine) | Local anaesthesia to reduce pain at castration (Reduction in pain) |
| Space allowance and flooring | Drained Flooring | Good space allowance microclimate and environment | New and old, both works |
Each winning practice is being promoted through accessible and engaging materials that help explain how these approaches work in real farms:
- Abstracts describing the practice, its context, economic/environmental impact, and replicability
- Videopills presenting each farm and its method in a few minutes
- Infographics explaining the benefits, steps and innovations (coming soon)
- Farm tours and interviews with farmers and technicians (coming soon)
- Podcasts sharing experiences and lessons learned (coming soon)
You can access all the winning practices and related materials here:
https://www.welfarmers.com/winners-of-the-first-round/
October, 2025 - WelFarmers
