Farmwatch pig stall footage discounted
The pork industry has dismissed a Farmwatch video purporting to show illegal sow stalls on a South Island farm.
It says the footage actually shows mating stalls, which are legal, and not sow stalls, which were banned in 2015.
Mating stalls are used when sows are in heat, to stop them hurting each other. Sow stalls used to be used for the first four weeks of pregnancy after a sow had been mated.
NZ Pork spokesman Ian Carter said the animal rights group recorded the footage secretly in April but had not released it until now, when it was supplied to TVNZ. Farmwatch had held off showing it to the Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI).
Farmwatch refused to give Stuff the footage or any of the photographs it has taken.
Carter said MPI had been to the farm and told him there was nothing illegal.
If people were concerned about sow stalls, they should buy New Zealand pork, he said.
‘‘Imported pork products make up almost 60 per cent of consumption in New Zealand, and 97 per cent of the countries from which pork is imported commonly confine sows in sow stalls for at least the first month of their pregnancy, which is illegal in this country.
‘‘Sows can be naturally aggressive when on heat. It is therefore important to ensure that the more submissive and vulnerable sows are not injured by larger, more dominant sows at this time. The use of mating stalls for a short period during the sow’s reproductive cycle can protect sows from a wide range of serious injuries,’’ Carter said.
Animal rights activists are also opposed to the use of farrowing crates, which are used on about 70 per cent of farms. In March, a 100,000-strong petition calling for pig farrowing crates to be banned was presented to Parliament.
The controversial crates are used to house a sow for five weeks, just before and after she gives birth, to stop her crushing her piglets. During that time she is unable to turn around or move more than a few paces back and forth.
A minority of pig farms do not use the crates but keep their pigs in huts outside, and brand their products under the Freedom Farms label.
However, they have a higher piglet mortality rate than farms where the sows are confined.
Farmwatch spokesman John Darroch said that if the industry had nothing to hide, it should welcome the public on to farms so they could see whether sow stalls were still being used.
Carter said he had always been open about what he did on his farm, and had appeared in the documentary Meat.
‘‘One of the focuses in the movie was on my mating crates, and there was no issue when I saw it, even though there were activists at the screening.’’
Under current animal welfare standards, the National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee (NAWAC) permits the use of mating stalls for seven days.
‘‘The use of mating stalls for a short period during the sow’s reproductive cycle can protect sows from a wide range of serious injuries.’’ NZ Pork spokesman Ian Carter