Pig industry hopes to cut time sows are restrained in stalls

1 March 2010

The pig industry could be on the verge of an animal welfare breakthrough.

Researchers at the Pork Co-operative Research Centre claim the amount of time a sow is kept in a narrow stall can be reduced dramatically, to only one week.

Chief executive of the Pork CRC, Roger Campbell, says the research is part of a renewed bid for Federal Government funding, to allow the centre to keep running for another five years.

"There's no argument the pork industry has got the message and you'll see the time sows spend in stalls will dramatically decline," he says.

"It's because we've come up with new technology of how sows can be mated and then how they're reared with their progeny.

"The time could be reduced from 14 weeks to one."

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