Introduction

Welcome to the Red Tractor Pigs Standards consultation

We are reviewing the Red Tractor standards for Pigs. Before anything is confirmed, we want to hear from the people the standards affect.

This survey sets out what the Pigs Sector Board are proposing to change and asks for your views on each area. You don’t need to review every section of the proposals, just go to the areas that matter to you. Your responses will shape the final standards.

Find out more about the proposals and how they were developed (opens in a new tab)

Closing date: 22 December 2026

We recommend viewing and completing this consultation on a desktop.

How the survey is organised

The proposals are presented across 7 pages. Pages 1 to 6 present the sections with the most significant changes. On page 7 you can also review a PDF of all proposed standards, including where standards have been retained or only minimal changes have been made.

You do not have to complete every section. Go to the areas that matter to your enterprise.

• Page 1: Biosecurity; Moving and Handling
• Page 2: Housing, Shelter and Handling Facilities
• Page 3: Fallen Stock; Animal Health and Welfare
• Page 4: Documents and Procedures; Traceability and Assurance
• Page 5: Vermin Control; Husbandry Procedures
• Page 6: Animal Medicines; Environmental Protection and Contamination Control
• Page 7: Overarching feedback and download a PDF of all proposed standards

What you will find in each section

Every section page follows the same order:

• Aim – why the standards in this area exist and what they are there to protect
• Summary of proposed changes – a short overview of what is changing, and why
• Proposed standards – the full detail, set out in tables
• Your feedback – the questions we would like you to answer

Viewing the proposed standards

The proposed standards are grouped into sections, each shown as a red bar.

Standards, audit points and recommendations

• Standards – detail the requirements that Red Tractor members must demonstrate. All standards must be met
• Key Standards – a standard of elevated or particular significance. A major non-conformance raised against a Key Standard, indicating total disregard for the requirements, will result in a suspension of certification until the non-conformance has been addressed or can be legitimately downgraded to a minor non-conformance, allowing 28 days for corrective action. Denoted by (Key) alongside the standard reference, for example XX.1 (Key)
• Audit Points – provide additional detail about how the standard will be assessed. Denoted by a lower-case letter following the standard reference, for example XX.1.a
• Recommendations – provide guidance on best practice and are assessed to aid industry knowledge and understanding, but do not require compliance. Recommendations do not pre-empt future standards. Some recommendations have remained recommendations since the scheme began

Reading the tables

Each table sets out one row per standard or audit point. The columns tell you:

• Standard and Audit point – the reference code, so you can quote it in your feedback
• Standards (Core / Enhanced Welfare Outdoor Bred (EWOB) / Free Range) – which enterprises the requirement applies to
• Template available – ✔ means Red Tractor provides a template you can use
• Change status – what is happening to this requirement

Where a column does not apply to a particular row, it shows N/A.

Standard definitions

• Core – at least the minimum legal requirements for space provision, health and welfare and provision of environmental enrichment.
• Enhanced Welfare Outdoor Bred – growing pigs are born and live outside until they are weaned and move into housing with solid floors and bedding. Breeding sows live outside for their productive lives, except if soil types and climate are a constraint in which case they can live inside in ‘barns’ with deep straw bedding for a maximum of 7 weeks at the start of each production cycle.
• Free Range – born and live outside. Generous space allowances according to soil conditions and rotation practices.

What the status labels mean

1. New a requirement that does not exist in the current standards
2. Revised the requirement itself has changed
3. Upgraded the requirement now carries more weight, such as a recommendation becoming a full standard
4. Editorial change the wording has been clarified, with no change to what is required
5. Moved the same requirement, relocated to a different section
6. Retained no change

Two types of question

The sections that ask for feedback ask two questions:

• Specific feedback – on a particular proposed change we would especially like your view on
• Overarching feedback – on the section as a whole, and anything else you want to raise

Both are optional, and every scored question has a free-text box beneath it. The comments are as valuable to us as the ratings.

Saving your progress

This is a long consultation, and you do not have to finish it in one sitting.

• Your answers are held until the consultation closes on 22 December 2026
• Keep the link private, as anyone with it can see and change your answers
• You can save and return as many times as you need

Before you start

• On a phone or tablet, the tables scroll sideways so you can see all the columns
• If you have a question about the consultation, contact enquiries@redtractor.org.uk