Open air pig systems including outdoor breeding herds and agroforestry integration provide welfare benefits through natural behaviour opportunity that cannot be replicated in indoor environments.
Outdoor pig systems represent the welfare ideal for many welfare indicators. Pigs that can root in real soil, wallow in mud, explore a varying environment and choose their own microclimate express natural behaviours that indoor enrichment can approximate but never fully replicate. Agroforestry integration creates an additional dimension of environmental complexity that further enriches welfare.