Outdoor pig farming offers significant welfare advantages over intensive indoor systems, but also presents unique challenges that require careful management to ensure good welfare outcomes.
Outdoor pig systems represent a genuine welfare improvement over intensive confinement, but "outdoor" is not a welfare guarantee on its own. Welfare depends heavily on stocking density — overstocked outdoor paddocks quickly become barren mud fields with no forage value and high disease pressure, potentially worse than well-managed indoor systems. Effective outdoor pig welfare requires rotational grazing to allow pasture recovery, adequate shelter from weather extremes, access to wallowing facilities in warm conditions, and management of predation risks. Farrowing in outdoor systems traditionally used arc huts — small A-frame shelters where sows farrow without confinement — and when managed appropriately, these systems can achieve very good welfare outcomes including low piglet crushing rates and natural maternal behavior expression. Certification schemes vary significantly in what "outdoor" requires, making label literacy important for consumers. Look for standards that specify minimum outdoor access time, rotational management requirements, and wallowing provision.