Pigs have a strong biological drive to root and explore. Enrichment provision is legally required in the EU and UK but compliance and quality vary enormously.
Pigs deprived of rooting opportunity develop chronic frustration. Stereotypic behaviour such as bar-biting and sham-chewing develops when rooting drives cannot be expressed. Tail biting - a serious welfare and economic problem - is significantly reduced by high-quality rooting substrates. Many commercial farms provide minimal enrichment that fails to engage pigs for any meaningful time. The Five Domains model identifies environment as a key welfare domain.