Ontario Pork board plans meetings with farmers before releasing its position on a mandatory sow stall ban

Thursday, May 16, 2013

by SUSAN MANN

Ontario Pork’s board will issue its position on a mandatory sow stall ban after it consults with farmers and others once the national Code of Practice for the Care and Handling of Pigs is released for public comment June 1.

The National Farm Animal Care Council in consultation with industry and other stakeholders is developing the code. Keith Robbins, Ontario Pork spokesman, says they anticipate there will likely be a 60-day consultation period as part of the code’s release.

He says the board will host a minimum of one meeting and possibly a series of three meetings across Ontario near the end of June with elected producer representatives and farmers. The board talked about having a representative from the council that developed the code give a briefing about what’s in it, the background behind what’s included and then “soliciting some kind of feedback” from farmers, he says. “I don’t think the board is going to issue a position statement until after that consultation.”

Producers will be given support materials ahead of time, he says. Ontario Pork will try and get as many farmers as it can to the meetings, which will probably be held in areas with the largest numbers of pork farmers.

The meetings will cover all aspects of the code, including the use of sow stalls. The code also talks about pain controls, spacing and “all the aspects, such as lighting and all the rest of it,” he says.

In March, delegates at Ontario Pork’s annual meeting voted 69-12 against a mandatory sow stall ban in Ontario. But several pork buyers, including Tim Hortons and the Retail Council of Canada, representing grocery stores, have called on the industry to discontinue the stalls’ use by 2022. BF