Providing enrichment to pigs is legally required in the EU and increasingly mandated in other jurisdictions, yet the quality of enrichment provision varies enormously. Research identifies which materials genuinely meet pig behavioural needs and which do not.
The regulatory requirement for enrichment has been undermined by the acceptance of technically compliant but behaviourally ineffective materials. A chain or rubber ball hanging from a pen wall does not satisfy rooting motivation and does not reduce tail biting — the primary welfare indicator that enrichment is intended to prevent. The science is clear: manipulable, chewable, destructible organic materials are the only category that genuinely meets pig behavioural needs. The barriers are practical — organic substrate is incompatible with slatted floor systems used in most intensive operations — but solutions exist: enrichment racks, rooting boxes, and slurry management systems designed for straw-bedded pens. High-welfare certification schemes increasingly specify material category requirements, not just presence of any enrichment.