Housing shall be sufficiently spacious to allow all animals to lie down in full lateral recumbency at one time and to move freely. Pigs are active, social animals by nature, and close confinement in crates is prohibited unless briefly required for vaccination, feeding, marking or veterinary procedures, or in the rare event that a sow may savagely attack her piglets, and then only temporarily until the sow is calm. Pigs shall have continuous access to pens bedded with straw or chopped corn stover, or pasture or dirt yards in which they can root, explore, play or build nests. Substitutes for straw and corn stover may be used only with the approval of the Animal Welfare Institute.
Straw is the preferred bedding for farrowing sows and nursing piglets.
Even when bedding is not needed for warmth, straw or other approved material shall be provided to hogs that do not have continuous access to pasture or dirt. The bedding shall be provided in quantities sufficient to give hogs material in which to play, explore, and root. Pigs housed outdoors shall have continuous access to shelters that protect them from the heat, wind, cold or rain. Adequate straw shall be provided to keep pigs comfortable in cold weather. New buildings shall be constructed with windows or openings that let in daylight.