Environmental enrichment for pigs dramatically improves welfare by reducing boredom, aggression, and stress in animals with high cognitive needs.
Pigs are among the most intelligent farm animals and have strong motivations to root, explore, and forage. In barren concrete pens, they have no outlet for these behaviors and redirect them to harmful behaviors including tail and ear biting. EU regulations require enrichment materials for pigs, but compliance and quality of enrichment vary widely. Research clearly shows that enrichment with manipulable materials like straw dramatically reduces harmful behaviors. Deep straw bedding systems that allow rooting represent the gold standard, but they are more labor-intensive than slatted concrete systems.