Pigs require complex, manipulable enrichment to express natural rooting and foraging behaviours. Low-quality enrichment like hanging chains fails to meet these behavioural needs.
Enrichment is only beneficial when it meets species-specific behavioural needs. Pigs have strong motivation to root and manipulate substrate, and non-substrate enrichment like chains largely fails to satisfy these motivations. Providing adequate quantities of genuinely motivating enrichment materials represents one of the most cost-effective welfare improvements available to pig producers.