Gestation crates, used on modern pig-production facilities, commonly referred to as factory farms
A gestation crate, also known as a sow stall, is a metal enclosure in which a farmed sow used for breeding may be kept during pregnancy.[1][2][3] A standard crate measures 6.6 ft x 2.0 ft (2 m x 60 cm).[4][5]
Sow stalls contain no bedding material and are instead floored with slatted plastic, concrete or metal to allow waste to be efficiently collected below. This waste is then flushed into open-air pits known as lagoons.[6][7] A few days before giving birth, sows are moved to farrowing crates where they are able to lie down, with an attached crate from which their piglets can nurse.
There were 5.36 million breeding sows in the United States as of 2016, out of a total of 50.1 million pigs.[8] Most pregnant sows in the US are kept in gestation crates.[1] The crates are banned for new installations only in Austria and Canada, so many sows are still confined there in pig breeding facilities. They are banned in the United Kingdom, Canada, Switzerland and Sweden, and in nine states in the US (Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Maine, Michigan, Ohio, Oregon and Rhode Island).[9][10] However, farrowing crates, in which female breeding pigs can be kept for up to five weeks, are not banned in the UK.[11]
Opponents of the crates argue that they constitute animal abuse, while proponents say they are needed to prevent sows from fighting among themselves.[12]
^ abWilson G. Pond, Fuller W. Bazer, Bernard E. Rollin (eds.), Animal Welfare in Animal Agriculture, CRC Press, 2011, p. 151ff.
^Bernard E. Rollin (1995), Farm Animal Welfare: Social, Bioethical, and Research Issues, Iowa State University Press, p. 76
^The Welfare of Sows in Gestation Crates: A Summary of the Scientific Evidence, Farm Sanctuary, 2004, archived from the original on 23 December 2007{{citation}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
^Reun, Pauk D.; et al. (1992). "Breeding and gestation facilities for swine: matching biology to facility design". Veterinary Clinics of North America: Food Animal Practice. 8 (3): 475–502. doi:10.1016/s0749-0720(15)30699-x. PMID 1446265.
^"An HSUS Report: Welfare Issues with Gestation Crates for Pregnant Sows", Humane Society of the United States, 2008, p. 1.
^Marc Kaufmann, "In Pig Farming, Growing Concern, Raising Sows in Crates Is Questioned", The Washington Post, 18 June 2001.
^Jeff Tietz, "Boss Hog", Rolling Stone, 14 December 2006.
^"U.S. Hog Inventory up 4 Percent", Quarterly Hogs and Pigs, National Agricultural Statistics Service, 27 December 2007.
^Andrew Wasley; Jordan Gass-Poore; Cecilia Ferrara. "Row erupts between Italy's Parma ham makers and activists over pig welfare". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 October 2018.
^Brett Mizelle, Pig, Reaktion Books, 2012, p. 92; Roberta Lee, "Summer Fun, But Not for Pigs: The Horror of Gestation Crates and Life in a Factory Farm", The Huffington Post, 16 July 2015.
^Oliver Thring, "Is Red Tractor pork really 'high welfare'?", The Guardian, 26 January 2012.
^Jeremy N. Marchant Forde (Fall 2010), "Housing and Welfare of Sows during Gestation" (PDF), Livestock Behavior Research Unit, USDA, The major issues surrounding the housing of sows during gestation are focused on the detrimental effects of close confinement and barren environment afforded by stalls on the one hand versus the detrimental effects of aggressive social behavior afforded by group housing on the other
A gestationcrate, also known as a sow stall, is a metal enclosure in which a farmed sow used for breeding may be kept during pregnancy. A standard crate...
Container compression test Dog crateGestationcrate ISPM 15 Wooden box See, for example, "Patentability, Bottle-Crate", U.S. Patent Office, 1914 (216...
History for Farm Animals" May 2007 ""Colorado bans the veal crate and the gestationcrate", Compassion in world farming". Ciwf.org.uk. May 19, 2008. Retrieved...
whilst pregnant sows are housed in gestationcrates or pens and give birth in farrowing crates. The use of gestationcrates for pregnant sows has lowered birth...
they are moved to a farrowing crate for three weeks, then artificially inseminated again and moved back to a gestationcrate. The practice has been criticized...
whilst pregnant sows are confined in sow stalls (gestationcrates) and give birth in farrowing crates. The use of sow stalls has resulted in lower production...
cage-free eggs, and began sourcing pork from suppliers that did not use gestationcrates for pregnant pigs. The plan also gave consideration to poultry suppliers...
gestationcrates. On 14 January 2004, the bill AB-732 died in the California Assembly's Agriculture Committee. The bill would have banned gestation and...
announced they would begin requiring their pork suppliers to phase out gestationcrates. In 2014, The Guardian reported that Costco is a client of Charoen...
square meter of space per pig. Pigs often begin life in a farrowing or gestationcrate, which is a small pen with a central cage, designed to allow the piglets...
GestationCrate Ban". The Huffington Post. June 27, 2013. Huffstuutter, P. J. (January 27, 2013). "New Jersey governor vetoes ban on gestationcrate use"...
breeding sows in gestationcrates. In 2007, the Governor of Oregon signed legislation prohibiting the confinement of pigs in gestationcrates and in 2008,...
Safeway announced it would begin requiring pork suppliers to phase out gestationcrates. In 2008, Greenpeace started ranking America's major supermarket chains...
the growth of a pollen tube from the pollen grain of a seed plant. gestationcrate An enclosure in which a domestic sow used for breeding is confined...
measure deals with three types of confinement: veal crates, battery cages, and sow gestationcrates. Having been passed by the voters on November 4, 2008...
Costco, obtaining hidden-camera footage of pigs confined in small gestationcrates and cruelty to piglets. In response to Mercy for Animals' infiltration...
2014-01-05. P.J. Huffstutter (2012-05-31). "McDonald's to end pork gestationcrate use by 2022". Reuters. Retrieved 2014-01-05. "McDonald's Addresses...
used in the McRib patty production. The complaint cites the use of gestationcrates and poor and unsanitary living conditions, as well as a lack of proper...
and limbs often can't keep up. Mother pigs (sows) are confined to gestationcrates that are so small that the pigs cannot turn around or even lie down...
banning veal and gestationcrates, becoming the first state to ban veal crates. 2007 Oregon passes legislation banning gestationcrates. 2008 Colorado passes...
gestationcrates and veal crates. Baur and Farm Sanctuary were also sponsors of a California initiative (Proposition 2) to ban veal crates, gestation...
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