It's not meant to be good. In any sense.
Pigs are probably the most intelligent animals on the farm, and they can become quite practiced in their favorite pastime, which is divided between passive resistance and open rebellion. If a pig sees a six-inch gap, from clear across the pen, while the herder is trying to drive it away from that side of the pen into a loading chute, for example, it will go between the drover's legs and head unerringly for the gap. If the pig hits the gap at a hard enough gallop, it will burst through. Though the escape may only be temporary, the pig has, for the moment, won. Meanwhile, the swineherd has been dumped in the mud, and is reduced to swearing vengence, or maybe just swearing.
Pigs know. But they don't have to be fatalistic. They go to their certain deaths kicking and screaming.