Smithfield Video Affirms Company Position on Sow Housing

By Amanda Brodhagen, Farms.com

It appears Smithfield Foods is on track with its 2007 pledge to phase out sow gestation stalls in favor of group housing. The company released a video, which touts the benefits of group housing for pregnant sows.

"We think this is both an entertaining and informative look at how we are caring for pregnant sows, with actual footage from our sow farms that helps to explain how the group housing system ensures the safety, comfort and health of the sows during the gestation process,"  Dennis H. Treacy, Smithfield's executive vice-president and chief sustainability officer said in a news release.

The world’s largest pork producer vowed it would convert to group housing for all company-owned U.S. farms by 2017. In 2007, when the company first announced its plans, cost of conversion was estimated at about $300-million. The company’s international hog operations are also to be converted over to group housing by 2022.