Inventory of pork production systems
In an inventory of 84 pork production systems identified in 23 European countries, 40 were regarded as conventional whereas the remaining 44 were considered as particular (differentiated), of which 68% made an animal welfare claim regarding their products.
More detailed information, for example on animal welfare, was collected from 70 of these farms. The pig housing systems varied significantly in terms of outdoor access and use of slatted floor and litter, as shown in Table 1.
| Conventional (38 farms) | Differentiated (32 farms) | |
| Animal welfare rules | 40% have specific rules | 74% have specific rules |
| Housing of sows | 61% mostly stalls | 74% mostly loose |
| Out-door access for sows | 29% | 68% |
| No slatted floor for slaughter pigs | 3% | 39% |
Table 1: Differences between conventional and differentiated pork production systems (based on 70 systems for which information was collected from system forms). Source: Q-PorkChains
