Farmers shouldn’t build any more hog barns with the present style of pregnant sow stalls, the Manitoba Pork Council implied in a report released today.
But it has not gone as far as directly recommending farmers embrace open housing for gestating sows.
“Manitoba Pork commits to encouraging producers to phase out by 2025 the style of dry sow stalls currently used,” says the Embracing a Sustainable Future report.
“New forms of housing must be practical and provide protection to animals and humans alike.”
The broad-ranging report also commits Manitoba hog farmers to more research into, and acceptance of, methods of hog production that will limit environmental impact, promote animal welfare and support rural community development.
The 2025 voluntary deadline for phasing out gestating sow stalls is effectively a call for a moratorium on new gestating sow stalls because sow barns are generally built to last about 25 years. With 2025 only 14 years away, a new barn would be only slightly past the halfway point of its life before an expensive retrofit would be required if a producer wanted to comply with the phase-out.
Karl Kynoch, Manitoba Pork Council chair, did not call for an immediate embrace of open pens for gestating sows because he said much research needs to be completed to prove that new systems can protect animal welfare, can function in a commercial environment and can keep food safety up to at least contemporary standards.
But he said the report’s focus is on accepting and adapting to animal welfare and environmental challenges before regulations or customers force them to do so.
“These are commitments that we are heading down that road,” said Kynoch.
“We’ve got to make sure that we stay competitive. We compete on a world market. And some of these things, in here, that the consumers are demanding, we have to find ways that we can meet these and still stay competitive in the world.”
Keystone Agricultural Producers president Doug Chorney lauded the pork council’s future-looking focus.
“The pork council is definitely moving in that direction with this announcement today, and it’s something that I think we need to emulate throughout the industry,” said Chorney.
University of Manitoba agriculture associate dean Karin Wittenberg said the report “demonstrates the recognition of the complexity of the challenges that face animal agriculture and it presents Manitoba Pork Council’s commitment to address these using a comprehensive approach, using a whole-farm approach and a community approach.”
