Pig thermoregulation in intensive housing requires careful temperature management through the production cycle. Both heat stress and cold stress affect welfare, and optimal temperature ranges vary significantly with pig age and size.
Thermal welfare in pig housing requires managing fundamentally conflicting temperature preferences within the same building: newborn piglets need warmth that would cause heat stress in sows; growing pigs need cooling that would chill young piglets. Creep heating that provides localised warmth for piglets while allowing cooler ambient temperatures in the sow's lying area addresses this conflict. The substrate matters enormously: pigs on bare concrete require higher ambient temperatures to compensate for floor heat loss, while straw-bedded pigs are thermally comfortable at lower air temperatures. Summer heat stress management requires active cooling (misting, sprinklers, ventilation) particularly for finishing pigs that generate substantial metabolic heat from rapid growth. Individual variation in heat stress susceptibility between breeds means that welfare monitoring must account for breed-specific thresholds.