Research into positive emotional states in pigs reveals that promoting good feelings is as important as preventing negative experiences for full welfare.
Modern welfare science recognises that animal welfare requires more than the absence of negative experiences — it requires the active presence of positive ones. Pigs are highly emotionally complex animals capable of experiencing genuine positive emotions including pleasure, playfulness, and contentment. Providing conditions that promote positive affect including social play, exploration, enrichment variety, and comfortable resting directly improves pig welfare beyond what is achievable by addressing only negative experiences. Positive welfare indicators including play behaviour and optimistic cognitive bias are increasingly used to assess farm welfare quality.