The UK has led the way with animal welfare standards for
pigs. They have banned the use of sow
stalls. The EU will follow in 2013. Australia has no intention of banning these
stalls anytime soon.
Changes to our Code of Practice will supposedly restrict the
amount of time a sow can be held in a stall, but there are also allowances
within the code to extend that time at the will of the pig producer. These changes would not take effect until
2017.
The Australian Code of Practice allows for sows to continue
to be kept in stalls only centimetres larger than their bodies. “ Industry would have us believe that there
are major changes to the size of sow stalls, but, the new dimensions for these
stalls only applies to new installations.
Pre-existing stalls will remain in use as long as the sow does not touch
the bars on both sides simultaneously.” says Lee McCosker, President of the Free Range Pork
Farmers Association.
Australian intensive producers use farrowing crates and the
Code allows for sows to held in these for 6 week periods each pregnancy. The dimensions of these crates, as per the
Code of Practice, are even smaller than sow stalls.
“The part of the story that I found quite disturbing was
that viewers were left with the notion that all pigs are incapable of natural
mating. This may occur in factory farms
were sows are too weak to stand for the boar and suffer injury as a result, but
it is certainly not the case on a free range pig farm” commented McCosker. “Certified free range farmers allow their
pigs to mate naturally as our pigs are strong and healthy and do not suffer as
a result of confined conditions that do not allow the sow to exercise and therefore
cause her to become fragile”.
Australia is lagging behind when it comes to animal welfare
standards for pigs.