A Natural Day in the Life of a Pig
Rooting, rolling, wallowing – how pigs would like to live
What would a day in the life of a pig be like if it could live as it wants and according to its natural needs? Let's start in the morning:
Pigs like to sleep snuggled up together in their nest.1,2 In the morning, they get up together and do their business in an area reserved for depositing feces and urine away from the sleeping spot.2,3 Pigs spend some 70 percent of the day exploring their environment and looking for food.2 Distressed fattening pigs raised in intensive farming without straw or litter act out substitute behaviors such as rooting in the content of feeding troughs or rubbing their snouts in repetitive movements over the concrete or slatted floor.4-6
Pigs have a taste for treats and a broad food spectrum: among other things they eat grass, fruits, nuts, leaves, herbs, mushrooms, roots, tubers, worms, snails, larvae, carrion, and vertebrates.1,2,7 In intensive farming, pigs are normally fed twice a day with unvaried uniform feed which usually takes them only about ten minutes to eat.8-10
Around midday, pigs like to rest for several hours or dedicate themselves to extensive bathing, wallowing and rolling around. In the early evening hours, they set up their sleeping nest by bringing together fresh material such as grass, leaves and thin twigs, in which they nestle comfortably.2 All these natural needs of the domestic pig are strongly or totally suppressed in intensive animal farming.11
Tip: the natural behavior of pigs can best be observed on so-called 'life farms' or farm sanctuaries that keep the animals in conditions suited to their species and do not slaughter them. Visit a farm like this and see for yourself how a day in the life of a 'natural pig' unfolds.
Pigs spend 70 percent of the day exploring their environment and looking for food.
Source
2. Stolba A, Wood-Gush DGM. The behaviour of pigs in a semi-natural environment. Animal Science. 1989;48(2):419–425. doi:10.1017/S0003356100040411
3. Salomon E, Åkerhielm H, Lindahl C, Lindgren K. Outdoor pig fattening at two Swedish organic farms—Spatial and temporal load of nutrients and potential environmental impact. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment. 2007;121(4):407–418. doi:10.1016/j.agee.2006.11.017
4. Haskell M, Wemelsfelder F, Mendl MT, Calvert S, Lawrence AB. The effect of substrate-enriched and subtrat-impoverished housing environments on the diversity of behavoir in pigs. Behaviour. 1996;133(9):741–761.
5. Nannoni E, Martelli G, Rubini G, Sardi L. Effects of increased space allowance on animal welfare, meat and ham quality of heavy pigs slaughtered at 160Kg. PLOS ONE. 2019;14(2):e0212417. doi:10/gfvt6c
6. Scipioni R, Martelli G, Antonella Volpelli L. Assessment of welfare in pigs. Italian Journal of Animal Science. 2009;8(sup1):117–137. doi:10.4081/ijas.2009.s1.117
7. Špinka M. Behaviour of Pigs. In: Jensen P, editor. The Ethology of Domestic Animals: An Introductory Text, 3rd Edition. 3rd ed. Wallingford, Oxfordshire, UK ; Boston, MA: CABI; 2017.
8. Persson E, Wülbers-Mindermann M, Berg C, Algers B. Increasing daily feeding occasions in restricted feeding strategies does not improve performance or well being of fattening pigs. Acta veterinaria Scandinavica. 2008;50:24. doi:10.1186/1751-0147-50-24
9. Zoric M, Johansson S-E, Wallgren P. Behaviour of fattening pigs fed with liquid feed and dry feed. Porcine Health Management. 2015;1(1):14. doi:10.1186/s40813-015-0009-7
10. Maes DGD, Dewulf J, Piñeiro C, Edwards S, Kyriazakis I. A critical reflection on intensive pork production with an emphasis on animal health and welfare. Journal of Animal Science. 2020;98(Suppl 1):S15–S26. doi:10.1093/jas/skz362
11. EFSA Panel on Animal Health and Welfare (AHAW), Nielsen SS, Alvarez J, Bicout DJ, Calistri P, Canali E, Drewe JA, Garin-Bastuji B, Gonzales Rojas JL, Schmidt G, et al. Welfare of pigs on farm. EFSA Journal. 2022;20(8):e07421. doi:10.2903/j.efsa.2022.7421