Providing enrichment in intensive pig housing is challenging but essential, with innovative approaches demonstrating that meaningful enrichment is compatible with commercial production.
The EU and UK legal requirement for manipulable material has often been fulfilled with hanging chains that provide minimal welfare benefit. Research demonstrates that genuinely effective enrichment including substrates like straw and compost is commercially deliverable and transforms welfare outcomes. Closing the gap between the letter and spirit of enrichment legislation through better specification and enforcement is the key policy intervention needed.