Major Whanganui pig farm says its future is threatened by animal welfare code proposals

The code proposes either totally banning farrowing crates or restricting them to 72 hours' use. Photo / Supplied

A leading New Zealand pig farmer in Whanganui says his farm will have to close down if proposals around animal welfare are confirmed.

But an animal welfare group says farmers in New Zealand have long been able to work under special circumstances and it was time they were brought in line with animal welfare regulations set out by the Government.

The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) and the National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee (NAWAC) are both considering major changes to the way pigs are farmed in this country after the High Court recommended new rules by 2025.

At the centre of the draft proposal, for which submissions closed on Friday, July 8, is the idea to prohibit or restrict the use of farrowing crates.

The new code also proposes restricting the use of mating stalls, an increase in space allowed for grower and weaner pigs, as well as an increase to the weaning age.

Those proposals, if they all came to fruition, would crush a pig farming business like Aorere Farms, run by brothers Ross and Grant Skilton.

"In its entirety, basically we will be closing down," Grant Skilton said.

"It will no longer be economic to commercially produce pigs, at least in the North Island,"

Pork industry group NZPork has also said the draft code could result in pig farms shutting down and New Zealanders buying more imported products.

Skilton said the code's proposal to restrict or prohibit farrowing crates could end up with worse welfare outcomes for piglets than what they are now.

"Basically, the farrowing crates reduce the crushing of the piglets by the sow - they save piglets from getting crushed.

Grant Skilton says if all of the pig welfare code proposals are put through, his farm will become economically unviable. Photo / Bevan Conley

"Essentially, we're trading off the freedom of the sow with the mortality of the piglets."

The code proposes either totally banning farrowing crates or restricting them to 72 hours' use.

Animal welfare advocacy group SAFE is calling for a complete ban on them.

SAFE chief executive Debra Ashton said farrowing crates are cruel and do not provide for the basic health and behaviour needs of mother pigs.

"Alternative systems that provide greater behavioural freedom for mother pigs are already in use on nearly half of pig farms in Aotearoa," said Ashton.

As for some of the other proposals in the code, Skilton said his company would not be able to afford the changes it would have to make in order to meet the new standards.

"Almost [a] doubling of our facilities required ... the buildings and equipment required."

The restriction or prohibition of farrowing crates, which are used to keep sows in a confined space during the final months of pregnancy and while suckling piglets, may be able to be tolerated, Skilton said.

"But there are two other significant changes in regulation which on top of the farrowing crates restrictions would basically put us out of business."

They were the increased space requirements and a rule for weaning at a minimum of 28 days.

"For the best herds in New Zealand ... it's difficult to achieve.

"You're talking about new genetics, whole new inefficient productive systems to achieve 28 days in the best of New Zealand's pig herds."

The code proposes increasing the space for pigs from the present minimum allowed by half or more than double.

Skilton said if this country's standard were to meet the present highest standard for space in the rest of the world - that would be increasing the minimum by 13 per cent.

That would be a lot less than the potentially doubling of space that has been proposed.

He said increasing the space requirement for pigs to what is being proposed would make New Zealand pork cost 20 per cent more.

"Well we'd become non-competitive with international products that can produce at a lower standard."

The buildings housing pigs would also need a two-to-threefold increase in heating input as well, Skilton said, because there would be fewer animals and more space needed to be heated.

If businesses like his are made non-competitive and have to close, it could affect not only 12 fulltime jobs at Aorere Farms, Skilton said, but other jobs down the line at meat processing plants.

SAFE chief executive Debra Ashton said until now there had been situations where farmers had been allowed to work under "exceptional circumstances" not in line with the Animal Welfare Act.

"Now they're being called to do that," Ashton said, referring to the welfare code proposals.

"[Of] what's been put forward I'd still like to see some of the rules stretched a lot further but certainly the draft code of welfare is a lot stronger than what we've seen in the past."

Ashton said she was aware of concerns pig farmers had around the cost of their products increasing as a result of new welfare rules.

"But I still don't think that's a good-enough reason not to align with the animal welfare code."

She said she did not want to see pork imported to New Zealand from places where the welfare standards of pigs were lower than here.

That was up to the pork industry here to lobby the Government to ensure that competition was fair, she said.

MPI is expected to go through and summarise submissions following the Friday deadline and then a code will be recommended to Agriculture Minister Damien O'Connor.

But that is expected to take 12 months, Skilton said, and the minister and Cabinet then have the final say on the code.