Outdoor access dramatically improves the welfare of farmed pigs by enabling rooting, wallowing, foraging and other natural behaviours, but outdoor systems face their own challenges including weather exposure, disease risk and environmental impact.
The welfare benefits of outdoor pig systems are substantial and well-evidenced. Pigs can perform their full natural behavioural repertoire including rooting, exploring, wallowing and social behaviour in environmental conditions that match their evolutionary adaptations. Stereotypic behaviours and aggression are dramatically reduced. The trade-offs include greater exposure to internal and external parasites, weather-related stress during extreme conditions and the need for careful pasture management to prevent environmental degradation. Well-managed outdoor systems demonstrate that these challenges are manageable and that outdoor production is commercially viable. Poorly managed outdoor systems can result in welfare problems of a different kind, so management quality matters enormously.