Providing manipulable materials to pigs satisfies their strong rooting and exploratory drive, reducing aggression and improving welfare measurably.
Enrichment is not optional for pigs — it is a welfare necessity. The rooting drive is so fundamental to pig behaviour that pigs deprived of substrate develop chronic frustration that manifests as redirected aggression, tail biting, and bar-chewing. EU legislation requiring manipulable materials was a significant welfare advance, but enforcement is patchy and the quality of materials varies enormously. Compliance with a suspended chain does not constitute meaningful enrichment. Welfare-informed enrichment provision uses organic, routable materials — straw, hay, compost — that allow pigs to engage in sustained foraging behaviour. Farms that provide deep litter or straw yards see dramatic reductions in abnormal behaviour and injury, demonstrating the welfare impact of addressing this fundamental need.