The deadline to ban sow gestation crates has been extended five years to 2029.
The National Farm Animal Council, which sets codes of practice, said it would be too difficult for the industry to complete the transition to loose housing by the original deadline of 2024.
And so the code now says “As of July 1, 2029, mated gilts and sows must be housed in groups or individual pens.”
The council’s report comes after a fifth-anniversary review of the code, and it estimated it costs farmers $500 to $3,500 per sow space, to convert to loose housing.
“The difficulty in obtaining financing required to transition to group housing also poses a barrier to meeting the current requirements,” the report said.
The Canadian Pork Council estimates that by 2019 there were 384,000 of Canada’s 1.25 million sows in group housing.
