Pigs have a strong behavioural repertoire including rooting, foraging, exploration, and social play. Restricting these behaviours in intensive systems causes significant welfare costs.
The inability to express natural behaviour is one of the most significant and consistent welfare costs in intensive pig production. Motivated behaviours like rooting and foraging cannot be suppressed without causing frustration, stereotypic behaviours, and redirected aggression. Research consistently shows that pigs given access to rooting substrates, social complexity, and space for play show lower cortisol levels, reduced aggression, and better immune function. The gap between what pigs are motivated to do and what intensive systems allow them to do remains one of the defining welfare challenges of commercial pig farming.