MPs' vote brings easier life for pigs a step closer
The Times
26 January 1991
Michael Hornsby
A less restricted life for pigs came a step nearer yesterday when the House of Commons gave an unopposed second reading to a private member's bill that would outlaw the use of all stalls and tethers within five years. The government has proposed an eight-year phasing-out of such systems.
The MPs debating the bill, sponsored by Sir Richard Body, Conservative MP for Holland with Boston, may have imagined they were being asked to choose between intensive indoor rearing and a return to a golden age when farmers allowed their pigs to run freely in green fields.
The truth is more complex. The cottage-industry pig-keeping of before the second world war and for some years after may have been picturesque but there was not much else to be said for it. Such diseases as pneumonia, rhinitis, dysentery and swine fever were spread by poor management and contaminated feed.
Pig-breeding was in disarray. An obsession with colour and shape rather than productive ability produced such freaks as pigs that were so fat and unstable that their legs had to be splinted to prevent buckling. The first modern pig-breeding company was set up in Britain in the early 1960s. At about the same time supermarkets began to demand reliable supplies of uniformly lean meat at competitive prices. That meant that sows had to be able to produce bigger litters more regularly and individual animals needed closer attention.
Pig herds became much larger and most were moved into big indoor units where conditions could be controlled. The cottage-industry operator was driven out of business. Today there are 15,000 pig holdings, some with more than 1,000 sows, against 85,000 in 1970.
Production has increased greatly. Britons consume nearly 40lb of pork a head a year against 5lb 50 years ago. Since the Sixties the shop price of pork has fallen by about 30 per cent in real terms. But concern has risen about the welfare of pigs in the so-called factory farms.
Just over half of the 800,000 sows on UK farms are kept in individual narrow stalls or tethered to the floor in rows by girth or neck straps. Most have no straw bedding and stand or lie on concrete slats, unable to exercise their limbs or turn round. Keeping sows in separate stalls avoids fighting during feeding; the sow's feeding rate and breeding cycle can be accurately monitored; and signs of illness can be spotted more quickly.
Under the welfare pressure, some farmers have returned to outdoor free-range pig rearing. That costs less for buildings and equipment but output is lower, more stockmen are needed and only light well-drained land is suitable. About 10 per cent of sows are now raised in that way, but it is uncertain how much that percentage can be increased.
An alternative is to have more spacious indoor units with straw-lined areas for rest and sleeping and a concrete exercise yard with electronically controlled feeding systems. Sows wear plastic collars fitted with an identifying microchip or transponder. When it enters a feeding stall, a computer recognises the animal and delivers the correct amount of feed.
Pig farmers say they need at least ten years to switch to such systems. Grenville Welsh, chief executive of the National Pigbreeders' Association, said: "We estimate that the industry will have to write off ú50 million worth of existing plant. Banning tethers and stalls is likely to add between ú2 and ú4 a pig to production costs."
A Minister told MPs debating the bill to improve the welfare of pigs that he had received more mail on the subject than on events in the Middle East.
MPs were told that the practices of tethering sows by a 2ft chain or housing them in narrow stalls caused the animals acute stress and even mental derangement.
Sir Richard Body's bill was approved without a vote, though David Maclean, junior agriculture minister, opposed its timetable on economic grounds. The minister acknowledged the effect of the issue on his postbag but argued that the bill would cost the already precarious pig industry ú30 million as opposed to ú9 million under his own timetable of a phase-out within eight years.
Sir Richard told MPs that a young sow placed in a stall for the first time was likely to struggle for half an hour, scream and then subside. It became either listless or mentally deranged.
"When the animal is released after four months to go into a farrowing crate it will very often be aggressive and vicious and quite often will attack the stockman," he said.
A bill sponsored by Sir Richard to improve the welfare of animals at slaughter was also given an unopposed second reading.
