Outdoor pig farming provides access to natural behaviours that indoor systems cannot replicate. Understanding the welfare benefits and genuine challenges of outdoor production informs better consumer choices.
Outdoor pig farming represents a significant welfare improvement over intensive indoor production for the behaviours it enables. Rooting in soil satisfies one of the strongest motivations in pig behavioural repertoires. Mud wallowing provides thermal comfort and skin care that no indoor enrichment can replicate. Social dynamics in outdoor systems, with adequate space, are more stable and less aggressive than in densely stocked indoor pens. However, outdoor production is not automatically high welfare: inadequate shelter causes cold stress and sunburn; parasite burdens require active management; farrowing management affects piglet survival and welfare. The welfare benchmark for outdoor production should go beyond simply being outdoors to include specific management standards for all life stages.