Providing rooting and foraging enrichment to pigs in intensive housing systems addresses fundamental behavioural needs, reducing aggression, stereotypies, and indicators of poor welfare.
Pigs denied rooting and exploration opportunities experience chronic frustration that manifests as redirected rooting, bar-biting, and tail-biting. Tail-biting can escalate to serious injury and death in affected animals. Providing adequate manipulable substrate — particularly organic material — allows expression of natural foraging sequences and dramatically improves welfare outcomes. On-farm implementation challenges include slurry management, but solutions such as enrichment racks and compost dispensers are increasingly available.