Beyond absence of suffering, pig welfare science is developing positive welfare indicators that measure the presence of good experiences, play, and engagement.
Positive welfare science moves beyond the Five Freedoms minimum threshold to ask what positive experiences pigs should have access to. Pigs are playful, curious, and socially engaged animals whose good welfare state manifests in observable behaviors including spontaneous play, positive social interactions, and exploratory behavior directed at novel enrichment. These positive indicators are increasingly incorporated into welfare assessment alongside traditional negative indicators. Farms that consistently show high positive welfare indicator scores demonstrate that commercial production and genuine animal wellbeing are compatible when management is designed around welfare.