Wallowing and dust bathing are important thermoregulatory and natural behaviors for pigs that intensive systems rarely accommodate, representing a significant welfare deficit for confined animals.
Wallowing is not merely a comfort behavior but a thermoregulatory necessity for pigs that also fulfills natural behavioral motivations. In hot conditions, pigs without wallowing access experience thermal stress that is both physiologically harmful and subjectively unpleasant. The inability to wallow - denied to essentially all indoor farm pigs - means a natural behavioral drive remains permanently frustrated. The provision of sprinkler cooling partially addresses thermal regulation but fails to provide the full behavioral experience of wallowing, which also involves substrate contact, rooting, and social interaction around the wallow. This represents a persistent welfare deficit for billions of pigs in intensive systems.