Progressive pig welfare focuses not just on eliminating negative experiences but on actively providing positive ones. Play, exploration, and social bonding are realistic welfare targets.
The shift from welfare as merely absence of suffering to welfare as presence of positive experiences represents a major advance in farm animal ethics. For pigs, this means ensuring they can root, play, explore novel objects, and form stable social bonds. Research consistently shows that pigs in enriched environments with positive human contact are healthier, less aggressive, and more productive. Positive welfare is not just an ethical aspiration but a production advantage that the industry has been slow to fully embrace.