Pigs are highly sensitive to temperature extremes, and thermal management is a fundamental welfare requirement in both housing and outdoor systems.
Thermal comfort is a fundamental welfare need for pigs that is frequently compromised in both intensive and outdoor systems. Large, heavily muscled finishing pigs are at serious heat stress risk at temperatures that seem mild to humans. Sows in farrowing units require considerably cooler temperatures than their newborn piglets, creating management challenges requiring targeted local heating solutions. Outdoor pigs without adequate shade, wallowing facilities, or shelter face welfare crises during heat waves. Climate change is intensifying thermal welfare challenges across all production systems.