The flooring pigs live on profoundly affects their physical health and comfort. Poorly designed floors cause lameness, injury, and chronic pain across the global pig industry.
Floor design is one of the most fundamental welfare-determining factors in pig farming yet receives less public attention than gestation crates or tail docking. Lameness in pigs is strongly linked to flooring, and studies consistently show that pigs on slatted concrete have higher lameness scores than those on solid or bedded floors. Lame pigs are in chronic pain and experience compromised welfare across multiple domains: physical health, comfort, natural behaviour expression, and emotional state. Welfare certification schemes and corporate supply chain commitments are increasingly specifying flooring standards, including minimum straw provision and slat dimensions, as part of higher-welfare benchmarks.