In all the concern for the welfare of the sow, the reason for farrowing crates gets lost. They are used to prevent the sow from crushing her piglets to death by lying down on them, and this is a very real and common cause of piglet mortality. I don't agree with using the crate all the way to weaning, but having owned and bred pigs, I think there is a place for farrowing crates for a few days during the neonatal period. The size differential between an adult sow and a newborn piglet is huge, and sows do not look around for their piglets before lying down. Is it not cruel to allow a neonatal piglet to be crushed or asphyxiated to death?
Kia ora Rosalind—thoughtful comment, and I appreciate your experience-based perspective.
You're right: piglet crushing is real. But here's what the science shows: the European Food Safety Authority 2022 review (https://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/plain-language-summary/welfare-pigs-farm) found you can achieve the same piglet mortality in well-designed free pens as in crates. Meanwhile, crated sows have double the stillbirths and their piglets suffer starvation deaths instead.
Hoggard ignored NAWAC, excluded animal welfare scientists from consultation, and gave industry exactly what they wanted—without supporting farmers to transition to better systems.
We don't have to choose between sow cruelty and piglet deaths. The science proves it. But that would require real investment, not industry capture.
Thank you for that, Ivor. Compelling data indeed. It makes sense that the stress of being crated could interfere with parturition and lead to more stillbirths.
I know from my own experience with pigs that they like to build a nest before farrowing, if allowed to do so.
In all the concern for the welfare of the sow, the reason for farrowing crates gets lost. They are used to prevent the sow from crushing her piglets to death by lying down on them, and this is a very real and common cause of piglet mortality. I don't agree with using the crate all the way to weaning, but having owned and bred pigs, I think there is a place for farrowing crates for a few days during the neonatal period. The size differential between an adult sow and a newborn piglet is huge, and sows do not look around for their piglets before lying down. Is it not cruel to allow a neonatal piglet to be crushed or asphyxiated to death?
Kia ora Rosalind—thoughtful comment, and I appreciate your experience-based perspective.
You're right: piglet crushing is real. But here's what the science shows: the European Food Safety Authority 2022 review (https://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/plain-language-summary/welfare-pigs-farm) found you can achieve the same piglet mortality in well-designed free pens as in crates. Meanwhile, crated sows have double the stillbirths and their piglets suffer starvation deaths instead.
Switzerland, Sweden, Norway (https://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/plain-language-summary/welfare-pigs-farm) banned crates decades ago. Their farmers use 6.6m² pens with proper nesting, infrared heat, and supervision—and report comparable or lower total mortality than crates.
The real question isn't confinement vs. freedom. It's pen design, management, and genetics. NAWAC's Dr Matthew Stone said (https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/in-depth/576140/govt-s-independent-animal-welfare-experts-disagreed-with-pig-welfare-reforms) piglet mortality depends "more on design and management than the system itself."
Hoggard ignored NAWAC, excluded animal welfare scientists from consultation, and gave industry exactly what they wanted—without supporting farmers to transition to better systems.
We don't have to choose between sow cruelty and piglet deaths. The science proves it. But that would require real investment, not industry capture.
Ngā mihi.
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Thank you for that, Ivor. Compelling data indeed. It makes sense that the stress of being crated could interfere with parturition and lead to more stillbirths.
I know from my own experience with pigs that they like to build a nest before farrowing, if allowed to do so.