December 28, 2007

Colorado pork council moves to eliminate sow gestation stalls

The Colorado Pork Producers Council (CPPC) announced that it would start phasing out gestation stalls for pregnant sows on a 10-year period.

Ivan Steinke, executive director of the CPPC, said that Colorado's pork producers would embark on a 10-year phase-in for group housing to better assess the best animal welfare practices.

Individual stalls, the standard practice used in the swine industry, used to provide for the health, safety and well-being for each gestating sow are often considered by animal activists to be cruel.

The 10-year stretch is needed for producers to reconfigure their farms, acquire new equipment and staff appropriately in order to provide the best animal care with group housing systems, according to Steinke.

Jill Appell, president of the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC), said that there may be more than one suitable option for sow housing. However, it should be up to the individual pork producer to decide on the sow housing system that best fits his/her operation or management style.

Colorado currently has around 150,000 sows, a good percentage of which are already being phased out of stalls as part of Smithfield Foods'decision in late January to eliminate gestation stalls at its 187 company-owned sow farms over a 10-year period.