New code of practice | The updated code addresses issues of housing, anesthesia and humane treatment of animals
Most farmers want the new national code of practice for pigs to be implemented as soon as possible, farm leaders say.
“A lot of the barns are in compliance already,” Hutterite hog leader James Hofer said in an interview during the Manitoba Swine Seminar.
“There’s very little reason for most to change.”
Hog barn operators are under intense pressure and scrutiny over allegations of animal abuse that are increasingly being thrown at the industry.
Before Christmas, an episode of CTV’s W5 used hidden camera footage gathered by an animal activist group, Mercy For Animals, to paint a harsh portrait of a Puratone barn near Arborg, Man.
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The activist group worked with a network of other organizations to lobby for new restrictions and regulations on hog production, using the expected outrage over practices such as “piglet thumping” to drive their demands into public attention.
An expert panel that reviewed the footage found that some practices were done badly and a couple of actions should not have been allowed.
However, it generally found that the activities in the barn were acceptable, including castration without anesthesia, thumping piglets on concrete floors and the use of gestation stalls.
On the other hand, most public comments suggested many people consider some of these activities to be bad, regardless of veterinary and scientific assessments of their nature.
During the Manitoba Swine Seminar, a number of sessions dealt with animal welfare, public concerns and farm practices, which have become major industry issues in the past decade.
Years ago, hog industry meetings such as the swine seminar would have focused almost exclusively on veterinary, feeding and economic issues, but in recent years environmental and welfare issues have become equally prominent.
Industry sources say the new Canadian pig code deals with some of these issues and should alleviate some of the concerns.
It is scheduled to be released for public comment June 1 and is believed to be complete.
Anesthesia for tail docking and castration, a move to more open housing for gestating sows and clearer rules on euthanasia methods are all addressed in the code, people involved with its development say.
The new code replaces a 20-year old document that was progressive for its time but is now considered by most to be inadequate to address contemporary notions of humane treatment.
The W5 expose and the activist campaign were unfortunately timed for the industry because the new code is still months away from implementation and the present code’s acceptance of some practices puts the official standard at odds with at least some of the public’s feelings.
Manitoba Pork Council animal care specialist Mark Fynn said in an interview that farmers are willing to go along with changes in the code, as long as they are feasible.
“My thought is that producers would be receptive to reasonable changes that aren’t going to put them out of business in the short term,” said Fynn, who has been involved with the code’s development.
“As long as there’s a reasonable amount of time to adapt to these things, I think you will see more reception from producers.”
