Gestation crates confine pregnant sows in metal stalls too small to turn around, causing severe physical and psychological suffering that has led to bans across the EU and several US states.
Gestation crate confinement represents one of the clearest and most well-documented cases of institutionalized animal suffering in modern agriculture. Sows are highly intelligent, socially complex animals with strong motivations to nest, forage, explore and move — behaviors that gestation crates prevent entirely. The resulting welfare outcomes are severe: learned helplessness, repetitive stereotypic behaviors indicating chronic frustration, physical debilitation from inactivity and psychological deterioration. The scientific consensus that gestation crate confinement is incompatible with basic pig welfare has driven legislative bans across multiple jurisdictions. Where bans have been implemented, the transition to group housing systems has proven both technically feasible and commercially viable, demonstrating that welfare improvement does not require economic sacrifice.