Bioethical aspects of ensuring the well-being of pigs under intensive farming technologies

Under intensive pig breeding technologies, compliance with bioethical requirements and the appropriate level of welfare regulated by Ukrainian law and synchronized with European Union directives is quite challenging to ensure. The work aimed to detail the features of pig breeding technology from the point of view of bioethics, which is closely intertwined with the components of welfare and is one of the most important criteria for its formation. Certain aspects of bioethics regarding the adopted growing technology, conditions of keeping, feeding, and watering were studied at the farm “Agrofirma “YAK”, where a single-phase method of growing pigs is used, the use of which allows to avoid possible technological stresses and implements the implementation of several principles of the “Five Freedoms”, in particular by providing an appropriate living environment, including shelter, a comfortable place for sleeping and resting, and ensuring appropriate conditions and relationships that prevent mental suffering, in particular, the establishment of social and hierarchical relations in a group of similar people, the following freedoms are implemented: “freedom from discomfort” and “freedom from fear and suffering”. Free-range housing of sows with litter ensures nesting before farrowing. It implements “freedom from discomfort”, “freedom to manifest and implement natural behavior”, two-time feeding, free access to water of sufficiently high quality – “freedom from hunger and thirst”, which indicates an ethical attitude towards them. The presence of litter in the premises for piglets allows them to implement a wide range of behavioral manifestations: digging, research activities, playing – “freedom to manifest and implement natural behavior,” and the immutability of the “usual” premises of the young animals allows to avoid the emergence of new social and hierarchical relations or conflicts in a group of their kind when moving and forming new technological groups – “freedom from fear and suffering”. Carrying out planned preventive and therapeutic manipulations to monitor the health of animals ensures compliance with the principle of “freedom from pain, injuries or disease”. The transformation algorithm to sustainable production systems that take into account bioethical aspects and implement animal welfare requirements in practice will be of great importance not only for agricultural producers, processing enterprises, and trade organizations but also for decision-makers in the field of policy, research, and education related to the production of raw materials and products of animal origin. The priority issue is to highlight the sustainable development of livestock farming and the animals' welfare, which are essential for understanding current trends and future development of the industry.