Outdoor pig production offers welfare benefits through natural behaviour expression but also faces challenges including predation, temperature extremes, and disease management.
Outdoor pig production generally provides substantially better welfare than intensive indoor systems through access to natural substrate, space, and the ability to perform rooting, nesting, and social behaviours. However, outdoor welfare is not automatic: poor land management creates muddy, barren conditions that increase disease and reduce the welfare advantage. Wallows are essential for pigs to thermoregulate and must be maintained. In extreme heat without shade or wallow access, outdoor pigs suffer heat stress as badly as indoor animals. Predation on piglets causes both welfare harm to the killed piglets and fear responses in sows. Well-managed outdoor systems represent the highest-welfare option for commercial pig production.