Outdoor pig systems allow farrowing in huts or arcs on pasture, enabling natural nesting behavior and maternal bonding. These systems demonstrate that commercial viability and high welfare are compatible.
Outdoor pig systems offer the best available commercial welfare option for sows, providing genuine behavioral freedom: nesting before farrowing, rooting and foraging on pasture, and social interaction with other sows. The trade-off of higher piglet mortality from crushing and exposure is a genuine welfare concern that outdoor systems must manage through appropriate hut design, bedding management, and monitoring. The comparison reveals a fundamental welfare philosophy question: is it better to prevent the worst outcomes through confinement (indoor crated systems) or to allow natural behavior expression with associated higher risk of acute welfare events (outdoor systems)? Most welfare scientists and certifying organizations conclude that outdoor systems, managed well, provide better overall welfare despite the crush mortality trade-off.