Pigs are among the most behaviourally complex farmed animals, with strong motivations to root, explore, and manipulate objects. Enrichment provision in commercial systems can substantially improve welfare outcomes even within existing housing constraints.
Pigs are highly motivated to root, chew, and manipulate their environment — behaviours they cannot perform in barren concrete or slatted floor systems without appropriate materials. The absence of enrichment causes frustration that redirects into tail biting, a major welfare problem: pigs bite and escalate biting on pen-mates' tails, causing painful injuries and secondary infections. Enrichment that genuinely satisfies rooting motivation — loose straw, substrate, or rooting objects — significantly reduces this behaviour. However, much farm enrichment is tokenistic: a hanging chain or rubber toy does not provide the continuous, rewarding engagement that straw or rooting substrate does. The gap between legal enrichment requirements and meaningful enrichment provision represents a widespread, ongoing welfare failure in European pig farming.