Outdoor pig systems allow rooting, exploration, and social behavior. When well-managed, they represent a significant welfare improvement over intensive indoor housing.
Pigs are highly intelligent animals with strong drives to explore, root, and socialize. Outdoor systems that allow expression of these behaviors provide fundamentally better welfare than barren indoor environments. The evidence is consistent: pigs outdoors show greater behavioral diversity, lower rates of damaging behaviors, and better psychological wellbeing. Challenges exist - parasite management, weather extremes, and predator pressure require careful management - but the welfare case for outdoor production is strong.