Integrating foraging and agroforestry into organic pig production - Environmental and animal benefits

Outdoor organic pig production is associated with significant risk of nitrogen (N) leaching with a subsequent increased risk of polluting nearby surface and ground water sources. Contributing factors are high input of supplementary feed and a relatively high animal stocking density combined with pigs’ heterogeneous deposition of urine and faeces within the paddock. In addition, pigs’ rooting behaviour destroys the grass cover, which adds to the risk of nitrate leaching. In particular, risk of leaching severely increases during winter with periods of high rainfall and impaired grass growth. Based on concerns for the environment, snout ringing of sows is common practice. However, as pigs have a high motivation for rooting, this is a source of conflict between animal welfare and nutrient efficiency concerns according to the organic principles. Therefore, based on pigs’ species-specific and natural behaviour, the overall aim of the PhD project was to contribute to development of alternative production and management strategies leading to an improved environmental performance