The science of positive welfare in pigs and how producers can actively promote good emotional states.
Farm animal welfare has historically focused on preventing suffering, but the field is increasingly moving toward actively promoting positive states. For pigs — among the most cognitively complex farm animals — this means designing systems that allow play, curiosity, social bonding, and positive human interaction. Farms that provide rooting material, novel enrichment, and stockpeople trained to interact positively with pigs can observe and measure indicators of good emotional welfare. This represents a meaningful shift from welfare as mere absence of suffering to welfare as genuine positive experience.