Outdoor pig production allows pigs to express natural behaviours including rooting, wallowing, and social interaction, providing significantly better welfare than indoor systems.
Outdoor pig production enables expression of highly motivated natural behaviours including rooting in soil, wallowing to thermoregulate, and social interaction in varied environments. These behaviours are fundamental to pig welfare and impossible to provide adequately in indoor systems. Outdoor pigs show lower rates of tail biting and stereotypies. However, outdoor systems require careful management to prevent welfare problems from extreme heat, cold, predation, and environmental degradation. Well-managed outdoor systems provide some of the best available welfare for commercial pigs.