Beyond preventing suffering, positive welfare encompasses the provision of positive experiences for pigs, including play, exploration, and social bonding.
Positive welfare in pigs goes beyond absence of suffering to encompass genuine positive experiences. Play behavior is a validated positive welfare indicator seen in pigs with adequate space, enrichment, and good health. Cognitive bias tests, where pigs in good welfare states show optimistic responses to ambiguous stimuli, provide objective measures of positive affective state. Social bonding between familiar pigs is a natural welfare benefit that should be preserved through stable group management rather than frequent regrouping. Foraging opportunities that allow natural rooting and exploration behavior engage pigs cognitively and physically. The inclusion of positive welfare indicators in commercial pig assessment frameworks represents a shift from welfare as mere harm avoidance to genuinely good lives for farmed animals.