The space provided to pigs directly affects their ability to express natural behaviour, avoid aggression, and maintain physical and psychological health. Scientific evidence underpins space allowance recommendations.
Space allowance is a fundamental determinant of pig welfare that interacts with nearly every other aspect of management. Pigs in undercrowded conditions show more play behaviour, less aggression, better growth efficiency, and lower cortisol. The EU minimum is widely regarded by welfare scientists as insufficient for adequate welfare expression; it was set primarily on productivity grounds rather than welfare science. Moving toward welfare-based space allowances requires policy commitment and consumer support for the higher production costs involved. Providing additional space without concurrent enrichment improvement yields smaller welfare gains than combined interventions.