Outdoor pig production offers significant welfare benefits through space, enrichment, and natural behaviour expression, but also presents challenges from weather, parasites, and predation.
Outdoor pig systems generally provide substantially better welfare than intensive indoor confinement through expression of natural behaviours including rooting, wallowing, and ranging. Lower levels of aggression, stereotypic behaviour, and lameness in outdoor systems reflect genuinely improved welfare outcomes. However, welfare challenges specific to outdoor systems include sunburn and heat stress in warm weather, internal and external parasitism, and predation stress in poorly secured systems. Muddy and waterlogged conditions in wet periods can compromise hoof health and hygiene. Sow-housed outdoor farrowing huts provide privacy for farrowing but require good management to prevent piglet chilling. Overall, well-managed outdoor systems offer the best achievable welfare outcomes for most pigs.