Pigs are habitual animals and do not mind gestation crates.

During my childhood Christmas Day seemed to take an eternity to come round again and waiting for your next birthday, especially when the main goal was to become an adult (at 18!), seemed extremely tedious. Now, having reached middle-age, many of you will recognise a similar feeling when I say “time flies!”

Why this worries me is when we look at legislation, particularly the EU directive concerning the gestation crate ban, it is very obvious that before too long – only six years – producers in the EU should be committed to a ban on sow stalls.

In our summer issue of Pig Progress (vol.22, no.6) two different viewpoints were elucidated – the Spanish integrator pursuing a state-of-the-art housing construction to conform and the president of the US National Pork Producers Council at the World Pork Expo saying, “Pigs are habitual animals and I’m sure gestation crates are not bad for them”.

In our international setting this does make you wonder who is right. We set our industry experts the challenge, asking for their reaction to the statement: “Pigs are habitual animals and do not mind gestation crates”. I am wiser from David Burch’s walk down memory lane but intrigued to know whether producers agree – anabel.evans@reedbusiness.nl.