Gestation crate
A gestation crate, also known as a sow stall, is a metal enclosure in which a farmed sow used for breeding may be kept during pregnancy. A standard crate measures 6.6 ft x 2.0 ft.
Sow stalls contain no bedding material and are instead floored with slatted plastic, concrete or metal to allow waste to drop below. This waste is then flushed into open-air pits known as lagoons. A few days before giving birth, sows are moved to farrowing crates where they are able to stand up and lie down, with an attached crate from which their piglets can nurse.
There were 5.36 million breeding sows in the United States as of 2016, out of a total of 50.1 million pigs. Most pregnant sows in the US are kept in gestation crates. Gestation crates are banned in the United Kingdom, Canada, Switzerland and Sweden, and in nine states in the US. The crates are banned for new installations only in Austria and Canada, so many sows are still confined there in pig breeding facilities. However, farrowing crates, in which female breeding pigs can be kept for up to five weeks, are not banned in the UK.
Opponents of the crates argue that they constitute animal abuse, while proponents say they are needed to prevent sows from fighting among themselves.
Usage
Pregnancy
Between 60 and 70 percent of sows are kept in crates during pregnancy in the United States. Each pregnancy lasts for three months, three weeks, and three days. Sows will have an average of 2.5 litters every year for two or three years, most of which is spent in the crates. They give birth to between five and eight litters before being slaughtered. Some older sows may reach a size at which they have to sleep on their chests, unable to lie on their sides as pigs usually do. The floors are slatted to allow excrement and other waste to fall into a pit below.Birth
A few days before giving birth, sows are moved to farrowing crates, which are slightly wider so they can lie down to nurse. Crates have 18-in. "troughs" on each side where the piglets can safely lie without being in danger of sow overlay.Piglet survival also depends on selection pressure. Groups of piglets bred for higher survival showed no difference in mortality when weaned in farrowing crates and outdoor systems.
Piglet mortality
Although farrowing crates have been used based on the assumption that they reduce piglet mortality rates, there is little published evidence in support of this claim. The most comprehensive publication to date on this subject concluded that there is no significant effect of housing on overall piglet mortality, the authors stating that "Despite the fact that the crate system has been considered to reduce piglet mortality mainly through a reduction of crushing, there is not much scientific evidence for this when considering the few large surveys that compare the mortality rate in commercial herds". The review goes on to describe several large studies dating from as early as 1983, the majority of which found no difference in piglet mortality rates between loose and crated sows. The review also details an argument as to why piglet mortality rates have been reported to be somewhat higher in a comparably small number of studies, citing methodological flaws.Limitations on usage
Europe
In the European Union, the crates must not be used after the fourth week of pregnancy following a 2013 EU Directive. Gestation crates are illegal at all times in the United Kingdom and Sweden, however farrowing crates are permitted in the UK. Denmark and Norway are some of the countries where gestation crates are still used in conventional pig farming operations.New Zealand
The use of gestation crates following mating will be phased out in New Zealand by 2015. However the crates are still legal for up to four weeks after farrowing. A review led by the Ministry for Primary Industries, in 2016, found that "The current code of welfare allows for up to 5% of sows to be retained in crates for a further week as nurse sows. Thispractice enables slowly growing or poorly performing piglets to be properly weaned. It has been noted that industry does not accept or comply with this requirement and some producers are exceeding both the maximum 5% of sows allowed to be retained for this purpose and the amount of time that they are being retained." And "The current code requires that sows in any farrowing system constructed after 3 December 2010, must be provided with material that can be manipulated until farrowing. It has been noted by NAWAC during this review that industry disagrees with this requirement and does not comply with this minimum standard."
North America
In 2014 Canada instituted a nationwide ban on new gestation crates. This ban however has been delayed another 5 years until 2029 and will not include existing installations.In the United States, they have been banned in Florida since 2002, Arizona since 2006, and California since late 2008. A Rhode Island law banning the crates, passed in June 2012, took effect in June 2013. They are also being phased out in Colorado, Maine, Michigan, Ohio and Oregon. In California, Proposition 12 prohibits pork from gestation crates from being sold, even if they were produced elsewhere.
As of 2013 New Jersey had a pig population of about 9,000 none of which, according to the Humane Society, are kept in gestation crates. In survey conducted in 2013, 90% of New Jersey voters were in favor of banning the crates. In June 2013, Governor Chris Christie vetoed S1921, a bill to ban pig gestation crates. which had passed in the General Assembly with a vote of 60-5 and the Senate 29–4. An attempt to override the veto did not come to a vote. In October 2014 the New Jersey Legislature adopted S998 with a vote in the Senate of 32-1 and in the Assembly 53-13 On 27 November 2014 Christie vetoed the bill. A new bill was introduced in 2020.
Corporate policies
Over 60 major food companies have policies to eliminate their use.Smithfield Foods, the largest pork producer in the United States, said in January 2007 that it will phase out gestation crates from its 187 piggeries over the next ten years because of concerns from its customers. In 2009 the company stated it would no longer be able to phase them out in ten years due to recent low sales, but reversed the decision in 2011 after intense pressure from the Humane Society of the United States.
In February 2012 McDonald's announced that it would begin working with suppliers to phase out the use of gestation crates in response to pressure from the Humane Society of the United States and other animal advocates. McDonald's purchases around one percent of all pork in the United States.
In February 2022, billionaire investor Carl Icahn pressured McDonald's board of directors to increase the speed of phasing out gestation crates.
Organizational positions
The U.S. National Pork Producers Council promotes pork as a food product and is a leading proponent of gestation crates.The American Veterinary Medical Association "recognize gestation stalls and group housing systems as appropriate for providing for the well-being of sows during pregnancy."
In 2008, the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production, after 2.5 years of research, recommended "the phase-out, within 10 years, of all intensive confinement systems that restrict natural movement and normal behaviors, including swine gestation crates."
The American Association of Swine Veterinarians says that they support housing configurations that let sows eat, drink, and be protected from extreme temperatures and hazards, and other basic biological functions, without reference to mental well-being or ability to engage in natural behaviors. The position does not explicitly support or condemn gestation crates, saying that " are advantages and disadvantages to any sow housing that should be considered by weighing scientific evidence and veterinary professional judgment".
The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals writes negatively of multiple pork industry practices, including gestation crates, and praises states and companies who have eliminated gestation crates from their supply chains.
Paul Sundberg, a veterinarian and vice president of the U.S. National Pork Board, a leading proponent of gestation crates, told The Washington Post: "Farmers treat their animals well because that's just good business. The key to sow welfare isn't whether they are kept in individual crates or group housing, but whether the system used is well managed." Sundberg said: "cience tells us that she doesn't even seem to know that she can't turn... She wants to eat and feel safe, and she can do that very well in individual stalls." Sundberg did acknowledge, however, that there is active scientific dispute about the effects of gestation crates on sows.
Welfare issues
Animal welfare advocates regard the use of gestation crates as one of the most inhumane features of intensive animal production.Temple Grandin, professor of Animal Sciences at Colorado State University, said in 2007: "... basically you're asking a sow to live in an airline seat."
A 1997 report of the Scientific Veterinary Committee of the European Union, noted that because "overall welfare appears to be better when sows are not confined throughout gestation, sows should preferably be kept in groups."