Positive welfare assessment for pigs moves beyond the absence of suffering to measure genuine wellbeing. These indicators are transforming how we evaluate and improve pig welfare.
The shift toward positive welfare indicators represents a conceptual and practical advance in pig welfare assessment. Traditional approaches measured welfare primarily by what was absent — absence of disease, injury, and mortality — but these metrics allow welfare to score as acceptable even when pigs are chronically bored, frustrated, or experiencing moderate chronic stress. Positive indicators — particularly play behaviour, which is only expressed when pigs feel safe, comfortable, and socially settled — provide a more accurate picture of genuine wellbeing. Farmers trained to recognise and promote positive welfare indicators tend to provide better environments and report higher job satisfaction. The correlation between positive welfare and productivity provides an economic argument for welfare investment that complements the ethical case.