Sustainable animal production relies on quality welfare of animals. The purpose of this study was to investigate the resource environment, and the concept as well as the routine work of pig farmers on management and welfare of breeding pigs in Taiwan. As far as we know this is the first paper to actually survey on animal welfare among pig farmers in Taiwan. The survey was conducted in November 2008 using stratified sampling method from the members of the Republic of China Swine Association based on the total number of pigs kept in the farms. In total 3,333 boars and 63,308 breeding sows and gilts, which were raised in 377 pig farms throughout the island, were surveyed. This amount counted to approximately 10% of the breeding herds in Taiwan. All date were analyzed using SPSS 12.0. Cranach's alpha values were 0.875 and 0.914 for questions on two categories: general breeding pig management and care of sows and boars, respectively. Among the surveyed farms, 81.7% were growing white-haired pigs, and 13.3% were black-haired pigs. Most pig farms were built in 1982-1991 (39.4%), and had population size of 500 to 999 (27.5%). About 69.0% of pig farmers kept their sows in gestation stall, and the year of built the farms was associated with the types of housing (P ＜ 0.01). About 80% farms built in 1992-2001 and 59% built in 1981 before were gestation stalls. Farrowing crates were used in most of farms for lactation sows (76.2%). About 27.3% farmers were provided the fiber feeding for sows (sweet potato vines); while 20.5% of farmers used straw or hay for sow bedding. The small scale farms had higher percentage in providing fiber feeding and bedding (P ＜ 0.01). Only 14% surveyed farmers recognized stereotype behaviors of gestating and lactating sows. The topic needs further discussion among pig farmers. About 80% surveyed pig farmers, performed tooth-clipping (77%) and tail-docking (78%) routinely on piglets. The large scale farms which raising more pigs were significantly higher in carrying out the procedures routinely (P ＜ 0.01). Results of the study indicated the newly build pig farms should take welfare issues into account to increase the level of animal welfare, and the survey interview method should be used in the similar study. In addition, the positive attitude towards animal welfare of the farm owners is associated with the quality of animal welfare.
