Pigs are among the most cognitively complex farm animals — enrichment that meets their behavioral needs can dramatically reduce suffering in commercial production.
Enrichment welfare for pigs is a well-studied, evidence-based field with clear findings: pigs given adequate foraging substrate, social complexity, and manipulable objects show dramatically lower rates of welfare-indicator behaviors (stereotypies, aggression, tail biting). The gap between science and practice is large. Most commercial pigs globally live in barren concrete-floored systems where the most complex environmental feature is a hanging chain — an item rapidly explored and abandoned. The cognitive demands of barren housing are chronically unmet, resulting in pervasive frustration. Straw-based systems, though more management-intensive, have been shown to nearly eliminate tail biting without docking while improving multiple other welfare indicators.