Gestation crate

Gestation crates, used on modern pig-production facilities, commonly referred to as factory farms

A gestation crate, also known as a sow stall, is a metal enclosure in which a farmed sow used for breeding may be kept during pregnancy.[1][2][3] A standard crate measures 6.6 ft x 2.0 ft (2 m x 60 cm).[4][5]

Sow stalls contain no bedding material and are instead floored with slatted plastic, concrete or metal to allow waste to be efficiently collected below. This waste is then flushed into open-air pits known as lagoons.[6][7] A few days before giving birth, sows are moved to farrowing crates where they are able to lie down, with an attached crate from which their piglets can nurse.

There were 5.36 million breeding sows in the United States as of 2016, out of a total of 50.1 million pigs.[8] Most pregnant sows in the US are kept in gestation crates.[1] The crates are banned for new installations only in Austria and Canada, so many sows are still confined there in pig breeding facilities. They are banned in the United Kingdom, Canada, Switzerland and Sweden, and in nine states in the US (Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Maine, Michigan, Ohio, Oregon and Rhode Island).[9][10] However, farrowing crates, in which female breeding pigs can be kept for up to five weeks, are not banned in the UK.[11]

Opponents of the crates argue that they constitute animal abuse, while proponents say they are needed to prevent sows from fighting among themselves.[12]

  1. ^ a b Wilson G. Pond, Fuller W. Bazer, Bernard E. Rollin (eds.), Animal Welfare in Animal Agriculture, CRC Press, 2011, p. 151ff.
  2. ^ Bernard E. Rollin (1995), Farm Animal Welfare: Social, Bioethical, and Research Issues, Iowa State University Press, p. 76
  3. ^ The Welfare of Sows in Gestation Crates: A Summary of the Scientific Evidence, Farm Sanctuary, 2004, archived from the original on 23 December 2007{{citation}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  4. ^ Reun, Pauk D.; et al. (1992). "Breeding and gestation facilities for swine: matching biology to facility design". Veterinary Clinics of North America: Food Animal Practice. 8 (3): 475–502. doi:10.1016/s0749-0720(15)30699-x. PMID 1446265.
  5. ^ "An HSUS Report: Welfare Issues with Gestation Crates for Pregnant Sows", Humane Society of the United States, 2008, p. 1.
  6. ^ Marc Kaufmann, "In Pig Farming, Growing Concern, Raising Sows in Crates Is Questioned", The Washington Post, 18 June 2001.
  7. ^ Jeff Tietz, "Boss Hog", Rolling Stone, 14 December 2006.
  8. ^ "U.S. Hog Inventory up 4 Percent", Quarterly Hogs and Pigs, National Agricultural Statistics Service, 27 December 2007.
  9. ^ Andrew Wasley; Jordan Gass-Poore; Cecilia Ferrara. "Row erupts between Italy's Parma ham makers and activists over pig welfare". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 October 2018.
  10. ^ Brett Mizelle, Pig, Reaktion Books, 2012, p. 92; Roberta Lee, "Summer Fun, But Not for Pigs: The Horror of Gestation Crates and Life in a Factory Farm", The Huffington Post, 16 July 2015.
  11. ^ Oliver Thring, "Is Red Tractor pork really 'high welfare'?", The Guardian, 26 January 2012.
  12. ^ Jeremy N. Marchant Forde (Fall 2010), "Housing and Welfare of Sows during Gestation" (PDF), Livestock Behavior Research Unit, USDA, The major issues surrounding the housing of sows during gestation are focused on the detrimental effects of close confinement and barren environment afforded by stalls on the one hand versus the detrimental effects of aggressive social behavior afforded by group housing on the other