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A bill to ban gestation crates, an intensive form of confinement for breeding pigs, did not pass Massachusetts.  In the National Hog Farmer, hog farmer Lisa Colby declared a victory for “the rights of local farmers,” stating “Massachusetts family farmers are relieved the legislature had the good sense not to waste time debating a law prohibiting farmers’ choices in taking care of their animals.”

Gestation Crates

Agribusiness owners, who describe themselves as “farmers” to garner public support, justify the use of extraordinarily cruel gestation crates for sows by claiming that they “allow for individualized care and eliminate aggression from other sows.”  This is the ultimate in hogwash.  “Individualized care?”  Sows locked in gestation crates are among the most abused animals on the planet.  “Eliminate aggression from other sows?” The sows are so stressed and traumatized by their inability to so much as turn around that they go insane, chewing on the metal bars that imprison them. Farm Sanctuary and other advocacy groups are supporting legislation at the state level to ban gestation crates.   Please see how you can help.

In a thorough story about the pork industry’s slow phase out of gestation crates, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports on many aspects of the change, including the vast financial resources of large companies like Cargill, Smithfield Foods and Hormel  that will enable them to make the switch from crates to group pens; the concern among small contract farmers that the added expense won’t translate into added revenue; the risks and benefits of having pigs in group pens; and the growing demand from the public to eliminate the most intensive forms of confinement.  According to the National Pork Producers Association, about 20 percent of U.S. sows are in group sow housing; the rest are kept in crates.  “Gestation stalls became common in the 1970s and early 1980s, as hog producers got bigger and moved their animals indoors. The stalls generally measure 2 feet by 7 feet.  Canada recently banned the continuous housing of sows in gestation crates, following the European Union.” Dallas Hockman, industry relations VP at the National Pork Producers Council, defends the intensive confinement of sows, stating, “It’s not about right or wrong, it’s about choice. The type of housing does not dictate animal welfare.”

Gestation Crates

Thanks to undercover footage taken in concentrated animal feeding operations (aka factory farms), consumers largely oppose the intense confinement of the animals who they eat.  Of course, animal rights activists oppose it too.  The challenge we face as a community is whether or not we advocate for incremental reform, such as the change from crates to shared pens, or to push for the only humane option, which is the abolition of all forms of animal farming and slaughter.  Shared pens might be better, but they are still cruel, as they deprive the pigs from the opportunity to roam freely in the outdoors.   And the shift to pens from crates doesn’t change the fact that the piglets have their tails sliced off without anesthesia and that sick piglets are killed by slamming them against the floor. While we might disagree on strategy, we can agree on our message when consumers are listening — the eating animals in modern day times is inherently inhumane.

The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) released footage taken by an undercover investigator that shows baby pigs being fed to their mothers at a Kentucky pig factory. According to HSUS, “sows confined in cramped cages known as gestation crates were fed ground up intestines from piglets who had recently succumbed to a highly contagious diarrheal disease at the Iron Maiden Hog Farm in Owensboro, Kentucky. More than 900 piglets died from the diarrheal disease in a two-day period.” While prohibited by state law, the practice of feeding piglets to their mothers is fairly widespread, according to HSUS.

Undercover investigators who work in factory farms say they are haunted by the sounds of mother pigs wailing in gestation crates, but it is because of their heroic work that change occurs. As a follow up to their hog farm investigation, HSUS is asking people to join their worldwide effort to ban gestation crates. Nine states have already done so.