Pigs are capable of positive emotional states including playfulness, curiosity, and contentment; measuring and promoting these states is the frontier of progressive pig welfare.
Positive welfare science moves beyond measuring the absence of suffering to quantifying the presence of positive experiences. For pigs, this means environments that allow exploration, play, social bonding, and foraging - experiences that generate positive affective states measurably distinct from mere absence of pain or fear. Farms providing adequate enrichment, space, and stable social groups demonstrate measurably higher positive affect indicators. This framework reorients welfare improvement from a floor of tolerable suffering toward a ceiling of genuine flourishing.