Canadian hog farmers to get updated code of practices

Jun 03, 2013

Canadian hog farmers to get updated code of practices

Pig code of practices open for public comment

The National Farm Animal Care Council released its draft of the updated pig code of practices. The code is a set of best practices for the hog industry to follow for the care and handling of pigs. The draft will be open for a public comment period until Aug. 3, 2013.

The key areas of revisions will include:

Castration (controlling pain)
Euthanasia (methods)
Pig & sow space allowance
Sow housing – i.e. group housing, sow stalls
Social management of sows

The pig code of practices committee is comprised of industry stakeholders including: producers, veterinarians, processors, researchers, engineers, government representatives and welfare experts. The code was initiated for revision in Dec. 10, 2010 and it’s scheduled to be released Dec. 2013.

As it stands, as of July 1, 2024 sows will be required to be housed in groups, but individual stalls will be allowed for 30 days after breeding. Pig barns built after July 2014 will need to be built with the new requirements.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.