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Intensive pig farming
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===Dispute regarding farming methods=== Intensive piggeries have been negatively contrasted with [[free range]] systems. Such systems usually refer not to a group-pen or shedding system, but to outdoor farming systems. Those that support outdoor systems usually do so on the grounds that they are more animal friendly and allow pigs to experience natural activities (e.g., wallowing in mud, relating to young, rooting soil). Outdoor systems are usually less economically productive due to increased space requirements and higher morbidity, (though, when dealing with the killing of piglets and other groups of swine, the methods are the same.) They also have a range of environmental impacts, such as [[denitrification]] of soil<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.edpsciences.org/articles/agro/pdf/2002/07/19.pdf|title=The fate of nitrogen in outdoor pig production|website=Edpsciences.org|access-date=28 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040831180921/http://www.edpsciences.org/articles/agro/pdf/2002/07/19.pdf|archive-date=31 August 2004|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Bergius |first1=Sandy |last2=Parkes |first2=Philip |last3=Stankevicius |first3=Rolandos |others=HΓΈgh-Jensen, Henning; Porter, John |url=http://www.kursus.kvl.dk/shares/ea/03Projects/32gamle/_2002/pig%20farming.pdf#page=18 |title=Investigation of carbon and nitrogen cycles in pig farming |pages=16β17 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080625192517/http://www.kursus.kvl.dk/shares/ea/03Projects/32gamle/_2002/pig%20farming.pdf#page=18 |archive-date=25 June 2008}}</ref> and erosion. Outdoor pig farming may also have welfare implications, for example, pigs kept outside may get sunburnt and are more susceptible to heat stress than in indoor systems, where air conditioning or similar can be used.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.depts.ttu.edu/porkindustryinstitute/research/MANAGING%20HEAT%20STRESS%20IN%20OUTDOOR%20PIGS.htm|title=Managing Heat Stress in Outdoor pigs|website=Depts.ttu.edu|access-date=28 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120706235613/http://www.depts.ttu.edu/porkindustryinstitute/research/MANAGING%20HEAT%20STRESS%20IN%20OUTDOOR%20PIGS.htm|archive-date=6 July 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thepigsite.com/articles/5/housing-and-environment/669/heat-stress-index-chart-for-swine-producers|title=Heat stress index chart for swine producers|website=Thepigsite.com|access-date=28 July 2017|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130204084206/http://www.thepigsite.com/articles/5/housing-and-environment/669/heat-stress-index-chart-for-swine-producers|archive-date=4 February 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref> Outdoor pig farming may also increase the incidence of worms and parasites in pigs.<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1016/S0020-7519(97)00022-2 |vauthors=Roepstorff A, Murrell KD |title=Transmission dynamics of helminth parasites of pigs on continuous pasture: ''Ascaris suum'' and ''Trichuris suis'' |journal=Int. J. Parasitol. |volume=27 |issue=5 |pages=563β72 |date=May 1997 |pmid=9193950 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thepigsite.com/pighealth/article/411/management-control-and-prevention|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061124141454/http://www.thepigsite.com/pighealth/article/411/management-control-and-prevention|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 24, 2006|title=Management Control and Prevention - Managing Pig Health|website=The Pig Site|access-date=28 July 2017}}</ref> Management of these problems depends on local conditions, such as geography, climate, and the availability of skilled staff. In certain environmental conditions β for example, a temperate climate β outdoor pig farming of these breeds is possible. However, there are many other breeds of pig suited to outdoor rearing, as they have been used in this way for centuries, such as [[Gloucester Old Spot]] and [[Oxford Sandy and Black|Oxford Forest]]. Following the UK ban of sow stalls, the British Pig Executive indicates that the pig farming industry in the UK has declined.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bpex.org/technical/general/pdf/marketupdate-sept05.pdf|title=British Pig Executive market update September 2005|website=Bpex.org|access-date=28 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080227150253/http://www.bpex.org/technical/general/pdf/marketupdate-sept05.pdf|archive-date=27 February 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref> The increase in production costs<ref>[http://farmfutures.com/story.aspx/another-move-away-pork-crates-/25/59594 "Another Move Away from Pork Crates,"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120725210103/http://farmfutures.com/story.aspx/another-move-away-pork-crates-/25/59594 |date=2012-07-25 }} Farm Futures, May 8, 2012.</ref> has led to British pig-products being more expensive than those from other countries, leading to increased imports and the need to position UK pork as a product deserving a price premium. In 1997, [[Grampian Country Foods]], then the UK's largest pig producer, pointed out that pigmeat production costs in the UK were 44 p/kg higher than on the continent. Grampian stated that only 2 p/kg of this was due to the ban on stalls; the majority of the extra costs resulted from the then strength of sterling and the fact that at that time meat and bone meal had been banned in the UK but not on the continent. A study by the Meat and Livestock Commission in 1999, the year that the gestation crate ban came into force, found that moving from gestation crates, to group housing added just 1.6 pence to the cost of producing 1 kg of pigmeat. French and Dutch studies show that even in the higher welfare group housing systems β ones giving more space and straw β a kg of pigmeat costs less than 2 pence more to produce than in gestation crates.<ref name=ciwf08/>
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