The Government's ban on sow crates - to take effect from the end of 2015 - is a great leap forward, animal welfare campaigners say.
"Public opinion has forced the Government to ban sow crates, despite huge pressure from the Pork Industry Board to keep them indefinitely," said Green Party animal welfare spokeswoman Sue Kedgley.
"The strength of the public's reaction against the television expose last year - showing pigs locked in cages, chewing bars and looking demented, with festering sores on them - forced the Government's hand, and they had no alternative but to get rid of them".
Agriculture Minister David Carter yesterday announced that use of sow stalls on New Zealand pig farms is to be limited to four weeks after mating in 2012, and prohibited by December 3, 2015.
"The growing unease of many New Zealanders about the use of sow stalls, which I share, made it clear that change was necessary," Mr Carter said.
The new Animal Welfare (Pigs) Code of Welfare 2010 will take effect tomorrow.
Mr Carter gave credit for much of the impetus for the new welfare standard to the lobbyists, particularly Ms Kedgley.
"She has campaigned religiously on the fact that New Zealanders need to move away from the use of sow crates," he said.
Ms Kedgley had gathered a lot of public support for the issue, which was why the ministerial national animal welfare advisory committee had received over 18,000 submissions.
But Ms Kedgley, who has campaigned against sow crates for 10 years, said the ban was a victory for all animal welfare campaigners, and for every New Zealander who had spoken up against cruel sow crates.
"Getting sows out of their cages will be the biggest improvement in animal welfare in recent times," she said.
"It sends a clear signal to pig farmers that they have no alternative than to get rid of their sow crates."
"The Government needs to make it illegal to sell any pork that comes from intensively raised farms using sow crates - whether the pork is sourced from overseas or from domestically-raised pigs".
Another lobbyist, Soil and Health-Organic NZ spokesman Steffan Browning called for "country of origin" labelling and a ban on imports of meat that produced to a lower standard than New Zealand pork.
The director of welfare campaigner Safe, Hans Kriek, said consumers could speed up the process by not buying factory-farmed pork.
Mr Carter said the compliance cost of the changes will push up prices "at the margins" and his ministry estimated the net additional cost of $3.9 million would be born by consumers through higher prices and reduced consumption.
But the pork industry board claimed the extra costs will be more than $20 million.
"We may have people exiting the industry who don't feel they can make the change," said NZ Pork chief executive Sam McIvor, who said there had been signals from the Government that there could be assistance for farmers to help hasten changes and reduce costs during the phase-out period.
