The positive welfare paradigm recognizes that good animal welfare requires more than preventing suffering. For pigs, this means actively promoting play, exploration, and positive social experiences.
The positive welfare approach to pig farming requires a fundamental shift from merely avoiding obvious suffering to actively promoting good experiences. Pigs are cognitively sophisticated animals capable of experiencing joy, curiosity, and play — states that intensive production systems completely suppress. Providing enrichment materials for rooting and chewing, space for running and play, stable social groups, and novel objects to investigate creates conditions where positive welfare can occur alongside adequate physical health. Farms that invest in positive welfare see benefits in reduced aggression, lower stereotypy rates, and better growth and health outcomes alongside the direct welfare improvement. The measurement of positive welfare states through validated behavioral and cognitive indicators is an emerging but important frontier.