The Country
  • The Country home
  • Latest news
  • Audio & podcasts
  • Opinion
  • Dairy farming
  • Sheep & beef farming
  • Rural business
  • Rural technology
  • Rural life
  • Listen on iHeart radio

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • Coast & Country News
  • Opinion
  • Dairy farming
  • Sheep & beef farming
  • Horticulture
  • Animal health
  • Rural business
  • Rural technology
  • Rural life

Media

  • Podcasts
  • Video

Weather

  • Kaitaia
  • Whāngarei
  • Dargaville
  • Auckland
  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Hamilton
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Tokoroa
  • Te Kuiti
  • Taumurunui
  • Taupō
  • Gisborne
  • New Plymouth
  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Whanganui
  • Palmerston North
  • Levin
  • Paraparaumu
  • Masterton
  • Wellington
  • Motueka
  • Nelson
  • Blenheim
  • Westport
  • Reefton
  • Kaikōura
  • Greymouth
  • Hokitika
  • Christchurch
  • Ashburton
  • Timaru
  • Wānaka
  • Oamaru
  • Queenstown
  • Dunedin
  • Gore
  • Invercargill

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / The Country

Otago pork producers unhappy with proposed pig welfare changes

By Shawn McAvinue
Otago Daily Times·
18 May, 2022 05:30 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Pigs in Bloem Farm on Otago Peninsula. Photo / Shawn McAvinue

Pigs in Bloem Farm on Otago Peninsula. Photo / Shawn McAvinue

If a new draft code of welfare for pigs gets approval, thousands of piglets will be crushed and piggeries will close, Otago pork producers say.

The Ministry for Primary Industries and the National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee are consulting on proposed changes to how pigs are farmed in New Zealand.

The changes being proposed include:

• Prohibiting or restricting of the use of farrowing crates.
• Restricting the use of mating stalls.
• Requiring nesting material to be provided prior to farrowing.
• Increased space allowances for grower and weaner pigs.
• Increased weaning age from 21 to 28 days.

Consultation closes on June 24.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Bloem Farm owner Pieter Bloem (66) is a second-generation pig farmer on Otago Peninsula in Dunedin.

His 300 breeding sows, use 35 farrowing crates indoors on the farm, which fattens about 7500 pigs a year.

The proposed changes were a "step backwards" for the welfare of pigs.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Farrowing crates were "an essential tool" in a piggery.

If a new rule was introduced prohibiting the use of farrowing crates, many pig farmers would ignore it.

"Otherwise the whole industry is destroyed - we will have to shut up shop."

He started pig farming at the age of 17, working for his father.

"My father had no farrowing crates and it didn't take long for me to be on the verge of a nervous breakdown because we were losing up to 80 per cent of our piglets."

Sows killed piglets by accidentally squashing them.

Piglets stood under their mother because of the heat she radiated.

The sow would remain standing due to fear of squashing the piglets.

"I've seen sows absolutely agonising about how they were going to lie down. It's nuts."

The bars of a farrowing crate allowed a sow to get slowly from a standing to a lying position, giving the piglets time to get out of the way.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Bloem Farm owner Pieter Bloem watches piglets feeding on a sow in a farrowing crate in his piggery on Otago Peninsula. Photo / Shawn McAvinue
Bloem Farm owner Pieter Bloem watches piglets feeding on a sow in a farrowing crate in his piggery on Otago Peninsula. Photo / Shawn McAvinue

Piglet litters were much bigger now than they were when his father ran the piggery.

About a third of the sows these days would produce large litters of from 18 to 20 piglets.

Farrowing crates had helped him keep the pre-weaning mortality rate of litters to about 10 per cent - a big drop from up to 80 per cent deaths when they had no farrowing crates, he said.

He spent about $1.4 million a year on feed so he needed a high survival rate of his piglets to get a return on his investment.

"Nobody pays us for dead pigs."

The proposed rule to increase space allowances for grower and weaner pigs would require him to give them three times more space than he does now.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Some pigs preferred their own space.

Often sows in an open space fought, and they felt protected in a stall.

"They are vicious - they go at it hammer and tongs."

He had never forced a sow to enter a stall, he said.

"Farmers are really angry at the way we've been treated."

Save

    Share this article

Latest from The Country

The Country

OnlyFans footage of woman in bikini drinking from cows condemned by animal rights group

24 Jun 03:05 AM
The Country

How Federated Farmers shapes policy for Bay of Plenty farmers

24 Jun 02:30 AM
The Country

Kaharau clearance continues Bull Week momentum

24 Jun 02:21 AM

Kaibosh gets a clean-energy boost in the fight against food waste

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from The Country

OnlyFans footage of woman in bikini drinking from cows condemned by animal rights group

OnlyFans footage of woman in bikini drinking from cows condemned by animal rights group

24 Jun 03:05 AM

Safe is urging an investigation into the use of cows in explicit online content.

How Federated Farmers shapes policy for Bay of Plenty farmers

How Federated Farmers shapes policy for Bay of Plenty farmers

24 Jun 02:30 AM
Kaharau clearance continues Bull Week momentum

Kaharau clearance continues Bull Week momentum

24 Jun 02:21 AM
Michael Every talks Trump on The Country

Michael Every talks Trump on The Country

24 Jun 02:05 AM
Engage and explore one of the most remote places on Earth in comfort and style
sponsored

Engage and explore one of the most remote places on Earth in comfort and style

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP