August 2011
Get some pork on your fork…
Sadly I’m not clever enough to come up with that slogan but I certainly do find it catchy and amusing enough to consider walking to the shops to buy some pork for dinner.
I heard it on the radio the other day and thought, “I really need to learn more about that industry”- so this month, that is what I tried.
Just like the live export industry has been under scrutiny of late, so too has the pork industry. Sow stalls have been the major contributor to this debate due to the restrictions they place on sow movement when housed in one. However, the use of these stalls is not a black and white case and can, in some instances, possibly mean an improvement to the welfare of particular animals.
There are four main options for housing pigs:
Indoor cement or slatted floor individual pens (usually only for either sows or boars)
Indoor cement or slatted floor group housing pens- with either group or individual feeding spaces
Indoor open-sided sheds, usually with a hopped roof, and a deep litter floor (eg straw) - these are generally used to house groups of compatible groups of pigs- commonly growing pigs and groups of dry sow
Outdoor paddocks (free range)
While it may seem that the last system is the most natural, this can pose a disease risk to the animals and an environmental risk if not managed properly and is only suitable in some areas of Australia.
Likewise, group housing can often result in animals fighting, leading to animal injury, illness and diminishing the quality of the end product. This is why sow stalls were first developed.
Pigs are often aggressive animals and the intensity of this aggression between sows often increases during the early stages of pregnancy.
To ensure that each animal is accessing food and remains healthy, they are sometimes placed in an individual pen during this period.
These have been shown to increase the welfare of the animals and minimise aggression.
However, it has been suggested that well-managed group housing can have similar positive outcomes for the animals, without the obvious welfare issues. Generally sows are only housed in these stalls for a small portion of their pregnancy (6 weeks after mating in a gestation length of 3 months, 3 weeks and 3 days).
When a piglet is born it weighs around 1 kg, compared with a fully grown sow which weighs up to 250kg. As a result of these large differences in size, many piglets were being crushed by the sow rolling on to them, especially during the time in which the piglet is suckling the sow. To combat these high mortality rates, farrowing crates were introduced- which are also attracting much welfare attention. These crates help to ensure that the sow can move in much the same way as she can in a sow stall, but bars on the sides of the crate mean the piglets have a separate section of the crate where they can escape as she lies down. The introduction of this infrastructure has greatly reduced piglet mortality rates but can have some welfare implications.
In order to ensure the highest level of health and welfare of animals, the Pork industry is working on improving its welfare standards. A new code of practice for the welfare of animals was written in 2007 and has some significant changes included.
For example, from 2017 sows may only be housed in stalls for the important first 6 weeks of pregnancy, the areas of stall will be increased and sows will not be housed in farrowing crates for longer than 6 weeks if these are used in the system.
Many pig producers have chosen to move to group housing systems, utilising individual feed stalls within the group area to stop aggression and ensure that all animals have access to feed. The use of sow stalls and farrowing crates are still being debated and while it may be easy to take a negative view, it is important to acknowledge the benefits to welfare they also provide.
As discussed in previous articles, often it is difficult to fully maintain the welfare of animals and quality of product without utilising other technology which may not be seen to have the same outcomes. So it becomes increasingly important that a balance between each can be found.
Kiri Broad