Pig farming: indoors or outdoors?

Although there are as many pig production systems as there are individual farms, these can be divided into two main types: indoor or outdoor pig production.

Indoor pig farms feature herds of pigs that are kept in a relatively small and tightly controlled area, usually with some form of climate control, often on liquid and (increasingly) ‘high health’ feeding systems. These systems are often referred to as factory ‘or’ intensive ‘production.

Outdoor pigs feature breeding pigs (sows and litters) that are kept in free-draining farm fields for one to two years per site, using ‘arches’ and electric fences. More than a third of the UK herd is now kept this way, with increasing numbers of pigs also being reared outdoors to slaughterhouse weight.

Both systems have their ‘pros’ and ‘cons’ – let’s start by examining the positive features of both.

Indoors it has the advantage of environmental control: the piglets can be born and raised at the right temperature; adult animals can stay cool in summer and warmer in winter; neither do they have the opportunity to get sunburned; and you can control the flow of air, especially the appearance of drafts, so harmful to the health of pigs. You can also control the feed intake of housed pigs and can better reduce waste (so important in these days of rising feed costs); It is also easy to install computer controlled feeding methods such as automatic sow feeders and liquid feed for fattening Values. Indoor farms tend to be more productive than outdoor farms given the ability to control food and the environment; it is possible to achieve a higher level of monitoring and measurement and thus control of the many variables in an indoor situation. It is also possible to establish and maintain a high state of health for your herd, significantly reducing disease risks and challenges.

However, outdoors, you would benefit from much lower capital costs, lower running costs, a real marketing benefit in these days when ‘free food’, ‘free range’ and even ‘organic’ dominate consumers who could be persuaded to part with a premium price for such environmental friendliness. There is a perception of greater welfare in the operation for the pig in the open air (more natural, better able to express its ‘inner pig’. Finally, there is the very real advantage of using pigs as a ‘cleaning’ and fertilization of a piece of arable land that needs weeding and refreshing.

Big advantages, but what about the cons?

Indoors, installation costs are three times higher (per sow) than for an outdoor unit. Energy costs are high and slurry disposal can be a problem (although welcome by arable children once scattered and incorporated into the soil), and certainly a significant cost. The high population density of an intensive farm also has its own problems: diseases spread like wildfire if they gain access to the herd, and the smell can become offensive, especially on hot days. Well-being considerations are also very important – it’s easier to break the law on the inside than it is on the outside (population densities and environmental enrichment come to mind).

Outdoors the biggest problems are lower productivity and extreme weather conditions (on my outdoor unit I saw the water freeze when it came out of a four inch valve on a boat one winter). Getting quality staff is also a growing problem: every day outdoors is not necessarily idyllic. Vermin control and herd health is also a potential issue, as is management of the foraging herd if it is kept outdoors (appetite control, feed conversion, feeding rates growth and food waste will all be big challenges that will necessitate a healthy diet). higher price to justify).

There you go. “Swings and roundabouts”, as they say, “six of one and half a dozen of another.” Perhaps the best is a compromise: well-designed buildings and slurry management systems, with plump, pipe-fed pigs (using dairy waste, for example), loose housing, and lots of straw. Add in some high welfare features like electronic sow feeders and lots of environmental enrichment, and stay healthy, then maybe you have the best of both worlds. One thing I know for sure is that pigs get just as miserable as we do on snowy, icy, wet and windy days and just like us, drafts and high temperatures are just as uncomfortable for them.

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