In limbo over farrowing crates
Kiwis consume more than 20 kilograms of pork per capita a year, but how the meat is produced has come under scrutiny.
The use of farrowing crates, in which sows are kept before, during and after giving birth, has been particularly contentious.
Farmers and pork industry groups say the crates balance the needs and welfare of the sow with those of her piglets, but opponents say they are cruel and should be banned.
Last year, the High Court ruled that some regulations and minimum standards in the Pig Code of Welfare that permit the use of farrowing crates were unlawful.
After that ruling, the National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee began an assessment of the validity of pig farmers continuing to use the system.
The court also directed Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor to consider recommending changes that would see them phased out. An update is expected later this year.
At the Stanley Brothers piggery in the coastal Taranaki settlement of Oaonui, Karl, Ron and Noel Stanley are doing their best to prepare for any eventuality.
The farm has been in the Stanley family for three generations and has seen a lot of change.
‘‘We took over from our parents about 45 years ago, and we’ve continuously renewed and rebuilt,’’ Ron Stanley said.
‘‘We’ve got 450 sows now, and we try to do about 14,500 tonnes [of pork] a week. We have to keep our productivity up because there is a wall of meat coming in from overseas all the time.’’
Almost 60 per cent of pork eaten in New Zealand is imported from countries including Poland, Italy and Belgium, up from 41 per
cent in 2008 and 52 per cent in 2015. Imported pork doesn’t have to meet New Zealand’s animal welfare or environmental standards, a fact that frustrates farmers like the Stanleys.
A recently completed, purpose-built farrowing shed cost close to $1 million but that could prove to be a small price to pay if the rules around farrowing crates are changed.
Farm manager Leon White said the ‘‘maternity ward’’ is larger than usual and could be adapted to meet any potential new regulations.
For now, farrowing crates in the new shed allow the sows more room either side and more length than traditional crates.
However, while the animals are able to stand up and lie down on either side, they can’t turn around.
Sows have constant access to food and water, and a heat lamp in the corner of each enclosure attracts the piglets away from the sow, reducing the risk of the crushing and hypothermia.
The crates also prevent competition for food and space among sows, and help farmers identify and treat sick animals.
Sows spend a maximum of 28 days in this system after giving birth, and up to five days prefarrowing.
On the Stanleys’ farm, where piglets are weaned at three weeks, sows have an average of 2.3 litters a year.
They spend about 50 days, or 14 per cent of their time, in farrowing crates, and the remainder in social groups.
According to White, the Stanleys’ system has a piglet mortality rate of less than 10 per cent, about half that of outdoor farrowing systems.
If farrowing crates were removed, piglet deaths could double, he said. For the Stanleys, that could mean an additional average loss of one piglet a litter and a financial impact of up to $200,000 a year.
In 2016, the National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee found the use of farrowing crates was the best system available to meet the welfare needs of the piglets and the sow.
But three years later, animal rights group Safe, and the New Zealand Animal Law Association, took legal action against the Government for allowing the continued use of the crates.
That resulted in November’s High Court decision, which White said put the Stanleys’ investment in the future in jeopardy and was disheartening for all pig farmers.
Dr Kirsty Chidgey, Massey University researcher and animal welfare adviser for NZ Pork, said although some countries have phased out farrowing crates for the whole lactation, New Zealand’s industry was different.
‘‘Those countries don’t have [pork] imports to compete with, and they have farming subsidies. They’re being compared with New Zealand, which is an entirely different situation.
‘‘There are other systems, but they have higher piglet mortality. An alternative should improve sow welfare, without increasing piglet mortality.’’
NZ Pork has said a ban on the traditional use of farrowing crates would be detrimental to animal welfare, productivity, and staff health and safety.