Pigs are highly social animals whose welfare is profoundly affected by housing design and group management. The science of pig social behaviour informs better systems for both welfare and productivity.
Pig social housing is not simply about preference — it is about meeting the fundamental social needs of a highly gregarious species that evolved in stable family groups. The welfare benefits of good social housing are measurable and substantial: lower chronic stress, better immune function, higher positive welfare indicator scores, and improved reproductive outcomes in sows. The welfare challenges of social housing are also real: regrouping aggression, resource competition, and the complexity of managing individual animal needs in group settings all require active management. The trajectory of welfare science is clearly toward well-designed social housing with appropriate space, stable group composition, and resource distribution that prevents competition — not away from social housing toward individual confinement that avoids management complexity at high welfare cost.