Outdoor pig farming provides opportunities for natural behavior expression. Understanding how outdoor access improves pig welfare helps consumers and policymakers make informed choices.
Outdoor pig farming, when well-managed, provides welfare benefits across multiple domains. Pigs can express the full repertoire of natural behaviors — rooting in soil, mud wallowing, foraging, and ranging over larger areas. Social behavior is more natural in outdoor groups with space to avoid dominant individuals. However, outdoor systems carry welfare risks that must be managed: summer heat stress requires shade and wallowing areas, winter mud and cold require dry lying areas and wind shelter, and predation from foxes requires fencing and vigilance. Parasite burdens are typically higher outdoors, requiring strategic anthelmintic treatment. Internal pig welfare may be higher outdoors on average, but good management of these challenges is essential to realize the benefits.