California’s Prop 12 has now been fully implemented for a month and a half. This initiative bans the sale of pork in California from farms anywhere that confine pregnant sows in gestation stalls. The rule was designed to protect the welfare of the animal, but Ever.Ag Chief Livestock Economist Steve Meyer said it actually puts the sow at greater risk. “When a sow comes out of a farrowing crate after nursing a large litter, she is in a drawn-down physical condition; it’s the most vulnerable time of that animal’s life,” said Meyer. “This law says you throw her in a pen with a whole bunch of other animals that are also at the most vulnerable time of their life, it’s just asinine. They have to establish this pecking order and this is not a real good thing for welfare.”
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