Scientific evidence now strongly supports welfare benefits of group housing over gestation crates for sows, driving regulatory change and industry transition globally.
The scientific case against gestation crates is now overwhelming. Sows are highly intelligent, social animals with strong motivation to move, explore, root, and interact. Confinement preventing all these behaviors for months of pregnancy causes profound behavioral frustration, evidenced by the high prevalence of stereotypic behavior in crated animals. Physical health effects are equally clear — bone loss from immobility, pressure sores from inability to change posture, and cardiovascular deconditioning compound behavioral suffering. Group housing with appropriate management eliminates these welfare harms, though transition injuries during initial group formation require careful management through gradual introduction protocols. The industry argument that group housing is impractical has been disproven by successful large-scale transitions in the EU, UK, Australia, and increasingly in US corporate supply chains responding to consumer and retailer pressure.