Moving beyond the absence of suffering toward active positive welfare states in pigs requires measuring play, exploration, and other positive behavioral indicators that traditional audits have overlooked.
Animal welfare science has historically focused on measuring and reducing negative welfare — illness, injury, pain, fear. The emerging positive welfare framework asks not just whether animals are free from suffering but whether they have the opportunity to experience positive states: curiosity, play, social bonding, and comfort. In pigs, play behavior is an especially valuable indicator because it is energetically costly and only occurs when basic needs are met and the animal feels safe. A pig running and play-chasing pen mates is demonstrably experiencing something positive. Designing systems that enable positive welfare rather than merely reducing negative welfare represents the frontier of farm animal welfare science.