Pig Flooring and Welfare: How Surfaces Shape Daily Pig Experience

How floor type in pig housing affects welfare through foot and leg health, hygiene, comfort, and the ability to express natural behaviours.

Key Facts

Slatted floors — partially open floors allowing manure to fall through — are the dominant flooring type in intensive European pig production
Fully slatted concrete floors are associated with higher rates of lameness, foot lesions, and joint injuries than solid floors with bedding
Straw-bedded systems provide significant welfare benefits: thermal comfort, rooting substrate, and reduced injury rates compared to concrete slats
Partial slatting (solid lying area with slatted dunging area) provides a welfare-positive compromise that maintains hygiene while reducing injury
Rubber mats over slatted floors significantly reduce foot lesion incidence and improve comfort for resting pigs
EU legislation requires that pigs have access to rooting materials; in fully slatted systems, straw dispensers or hanging chains partially fulfil this requirement
Biosecurity concerns about straw-based systems (harder to clean) have historically been cited to justify concrete slats, though good straw management can maintain adequate hygiene

Welfare Considerations

Flooring is one of the most direct determinants of daily pig welfare. Pigs on fully slatted concrete spend their entire lives on a surface that causes foot and leg injuries, provides no opportunity for the natural rooting behaviour that drives their foraging instinct, and offers no thermal comfort from contact with cold concrete. Lameness — a major welfare indicator — is consistently higher on fully slatted floors than on solid-bedded systems. The welfare case for bedded or partially-bedded systems is strong, and the argument that slats are needed for hygiene management holds less force as good straw management systems have demonstrated comparable health outcomes to slatted systems. Transitioning pig housing toward more welfare-positive flooring is one of the most impactful structural changes available to the industry.

What You Can Do

Choose pork products from systems using bedded or partially-bedded housing as a welfare priority
Advocate for minimum standards requiring solid lying areas with bedding material in pig housing regulations
Support research comparing welfare outcomes across flooring systems including rubber mat retrofits to existing slatted floors
If involved in pig production, evaluate rubber mat retrofits as a cost-effective welfare improvement for existing slatted facilities
Engage with food company supply chain standards that specify flooring requirements for pig suppliers