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The EU regulation for organic pig production requires outdoor access to promote the animal welfare. This may increase the risk of infection of the common pig parasites, Ascaris suum and Trichuris suis, because their eggs can survive for many years in the soil. The egg contamination of these parasites in outdoor areas with different managements and the faecal egg output from the pigs was investigated on 11 Swedish organic pig farms in 2008. We found eggs of A. suum and, to a minor extent, T. suis in the soil from outdoor areas, which had previously been used for pig rearing and/or for spreading of pig manure. Piglets and their dams were turned out on pastures included in a crop rotation, and these areas had a mean of 2500 A. suum and 40 T. suis eggs per kilogram soil. When the pigs were 12-week-old, the faecal egg counts (FECs) of A. suum were positively correlated with the egg concentration in pasture soils before pig turnout. The areas used by dry sows had a mean of 11,700 A. suum and 220 T. suis eggs per kilogram soil. The highest egg concentrations in the soil were found in areas, frequently used by pigs in the most recent years. To minimise pasture contamination with parasite eggs, it is advised to have a crop rotation system and to inactivate parasite eggs in pig manure before spreading it. Parasite control needs further development to protect suckling piglets from infections due to environmental parasite egg contamination.

Organic pig farming aims at maintaining a high health and welfare state of the animals through appropriate housing, management and feeding. Better knowledge of health and welfare indicators should help to identify critical points and hence to improve health and welfare as well as performance of organic pigs. This paper describes the health and welfare of organic pigs from 101 farms across six EU countries, using selected animal-based parameters from the Welfare Quality® protocol. Parameters were collected in sows, suckling and weaned piglets in 3 to 20 farms per country. Their assessment was trained before farm visits and inter-observer agreement determined after farm visits. The most prevalent problems identified in sows were thinness (median farm prevalence 18.8 %, range 0–81.0), injuries on the anterior part of the body (15.5 %, 0–66.7), injuries on hind part of body (7.9 %, 0–50), obesity (4.9 %, 0–50.0) and vulva lesions (3.5 %, 0–42.9). In suckling piglets, the median prevalence in terms of groups affected per farm was 0 % for all parameters but ‘> 50 % dirty piglets in group’, for which it was 10 %. Farm prevalence ranged from 0 to 100 % for ‘≥ 1 lame piglet in group’, presence of diarrhoea, and ‘> 50 % dirty piglets in group’. In weaned piglets, the median prevalence in terms of groups affected per farm was 0 % with a range of 0 to 100 % for all parameters. Based on the collected data, body condition, skin and vulva lesions in sows, lameness, diarrhoea and respiratory problems in piglets could be used as management and welfare indicators, with good potential for enhancement through farm improvement schemes like herd health planning. However, some definitions could be improved, especially lameness, diarrhoea and respiratory problems in piglets

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Better knowledge of piglet losses around birth and during lactation, and the role of litter size, housing and management characteristics, should help to identify critical points and hence to improve the situation in organic pig farms. For this purpose, a project was initiated in five EU countries collecting interview data, measures of animal and housing characteristics and production records. This paper presents results regarding production characteristics from 82 herds. Among them, 42 farms were included in an analysis based on the production records. Based on sows’ housing system during the first 2 weeks after farrowing, farms were classified as “indoor” (n = 49) or “outdoor” (n = 33). For each group, a multiple correspondence analysis and subsequent hierarchical classification were carried out to identify distinct farm categories. In total, 30 variables from the questionnaires and measured characteristics were used after binary transformation when necessary. Three types of indoor farms and two types of outdoor farms were identified. Regarding litter size at birth and weaning, there was no clear difference between all types of indoor farms and one type of outdoor farms, whereas the second type of outdoor farms, that were more “extensive”, had lower performance. Production records showed a detrimental influence of high farm average litter size at birth on piglet mortality and that high-standard deviation in litter size may exacerbate this problem