Colorado pork producers have voluntarily pledged to transition to group housing for pregnant sows on their farms over a 10-year period.

"Although animal welfare experts and professional groups have found no one method of housing gestating sows that is clearly better than the other when managed properly, some concerns have been voiced about the use of individual stalls for pregnant sows," Colorado Pork Producers Council Executive Director Ivan Steinke said in a news release. "Individual stalls, the standard practice used in the swine industry, are used to provide for the health, safety and well-being for each gestating sow."

Steinke said the move, resulting from a series of stakeholder meetings held in the fall, addresses public concerns about gestation crates and changing market conditions.

"By utilizing the ten year phase in, operations will be able to investigate the proper system that will provide the highest level of well-being for the gestating sow and to provide proper staffing on each farm," he told Meatingplace.com. "This is a commitment made by the Colorado pork producing farms and will be enforced from within each operation."

The change could impact more than 90 percent of the sows in Colorado.

Dr. Bernard E. Rollin, professor of animal sciences at Colorado State University, said it shows, "great sensitivity to changing societal ethical concerns about animals."

By Tom Johnston on 12/24/2007 for Meatingplace.com