Pigs are highly social animals with complex social hierarchies, communication systems, and individual recognition abilities. Understanding pig social needs is essential for welfare-positive housing design.
Pig social welfare is significantly affected by housing management decisions. The most common welfare-damaging event in group pig housing is the mixing of unfamiliar animals, which triggers intense and injurious fighting. Modern welfare best practice minimizes mixing by keeping pigs in stable social groups from early life through to slaughter. Within stable groups, pigs form social bonds, show preferential association with familiar individuals, and develop predictable hierarchy relationships. Housing designs that provide adequate space, resources for multiple animals simultaneously, and complexity for spatial separation all contribute to better social welfare outcomes.