In recent years, people have attached increasing importance to the welfare of pigs and the quality of pork, and the production scale of organic pork has been expanding year by year. Improving animal welfare is a prerequisite for developing organic pork.

In the organic pork production system in Europe, pigs generally have the opportunity to engage in outdoor activities. Although there are no specific welfare standards in the outdoor production system, people believe that outdoor breeding mode is more in line with the biological characteristics of pigs, has no harm to the environment, and is sustainable. It also has certain benefits in animal welfare and hygiene. Although outdoor production has the welfare advantages of increasing biodiversity and behavioral freedom, when measuring the Backfat thickness and intermuscular fat of pigs raised outdoors using ultrasound, it can also be found that the data of intermuscular fat of pigs raised outdoors is relatively high on ultrasound.

There are also many problems with outdoor feeding of sows, such as frequent changes in posture and reduced breastfeeding frequency, which can easily cause piglets to be crushed, injured or killed; In addition, outdoor climate, environment, disease hazards, soil types, production management, enclosure design, and benefits are closely related, which are common issues in outdoor production systems.

When using B-ultrasound to examine pigs, it can be found that some sows have diseases in their reproductive system, such as breast infections. So choosing a variety suitable for local breeding is the primary factor in improving the welfare of sows in outdoor breeding systems. However, there is currently no specialized breeding program aimed at improving the welfare of outdoor sows.

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