The SmartGuard Piglet Welfare Monitor is designed to help prevent newborn pigs from being crushed by their mothers. The system includes a patch placed on the sow that records and transmits to a nearby monitoring device on the pen, which tracks the intensity and frequency of the piglet's squeals. At a certain level of distress, a vibration (i.e., TENS impulse) is delivered to the patch sufficient to startle the sow into shifting position or standing up-freeing the piglet. The system also continuously acquires and analyzes the sow's vital signs.