Group housing systems for farmed pigs offer significant welfare improvements over individual confinement, allowing natural social behaviours and reducing chronic stress across the production cycle.
Pigs are highly social animals with complex cognitive abilities and emotional lives. Chronic confinement in gestation crates prevents expression of virtually every natural behaviour — rooting, social bonding, nesting, and exploration — causing severe frustration and learned helplessness. Group housing, when well-managed, restores many of these behavioural opportunities and is associated with measurable welfare improvements. The transition requires investment in stockmanship skills, infrastructure, and careful management of social dynamics, but the welfare gains are substantial and durable.