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Canada is one of the world’s biggest pork exporters, shipping $2 billion worth of pork across its borders annually. The industry is growing rapidly, particularly in Manitoba. There is overwhelming evidence that some methods used in the hog industry cause suffering and deprivation to the animals. This is particularly evident in the use of sow stalls, which have become one of the most contentious intensive farming practices.
Sow stalls are 2’ by 7’ crates with metal bars and cement floors. They are big enough for a sow to stand in, and sometimes big enough for her to move one step backwards or forwards. Some sows are kept in these crates for the duration of their life – usually 2 or 3 years – until they are too worn out to breed anymore and are slaughtered.
For several weeks the sow is given a periodic break from the sow stall. She is artificially impregnated, and just before giving birth is put in a farrowing crate. Unfortunately, the farrowing crates are similar to the sow stalls, large enough for the sow to stand or lie and just barely large enough for her piglets to live with her. The purpose of the farrowing crate is to prevent the sow from crushing her young. After 10 – 21 days the piglets are taken from her and she goes back to the sow stall.
The conditions these sows are kept under are based on economics and avoiding aggression among sows. It is more economical for sows to be confined to save building space. Because they don’t exercise, they require less food and less human labour is needed to care for them. However, these practices deprive the sows of the ability to express virtually any of their natural behaviours.
The sow eats, sleeps, urinates and defecates in the stall. The cement flooring has slots for urine and feces to fall through. The stalls make it impossible for sows to exhibit natural behaviours like roaming, rooting, and digging. As a result, many sows suffer from foot injuries, weak bones, joint damage, muscle atrophy, urinary tract infections and lameness. They often become aggressive, trying to root their cement floors or biting the metal bars of their crates.
Sow housing is a contentious issue because aggression can be a problem in group housed sows and the industry uses this reason to promote sow stalls. However, with good management group housing works well and provides a more humane environment for animals, although poor management can result in ongoing aggression, and, therefore, injury to sows.
Studies have shown that group housing for pigs can be much more humane if well managed, and only slightly more expensive. Pigs are naturally social animals and can be kept in barns where they are free to walk around and where they have straw for bedding and rooting. Aggression in group housing can be reduced by providing enough space for submissive pigs to avoid more dominant pigs and also ensuring easy access to fee and water for all the pigs.
The CFHS would like to see sow stalls phased out and replaced with more humane housing and management systems. The European Union has passed legislation to ban the prolonged use of sow stalls by 2013. They are already banned in some countries – including Great Britain, Sweden, and Denmark – and in 2002 the citizens of Florida voted to make them illegal in that state.
