Govt's independent animal welfare experts disagreed with pig welfare reforms

Newly released documents show the government's independent animal welfare experts disagreed with new pig welfare reforms.

Associate Agriculture Minister Andrew Hoggard announced a rewrite of pig welfare laws on 1 October, cancelling the previous Labour government's plans to ban farrowing crates from 18 December.

Instead, the Animal Welfare Amendment (Regulations of Management of Pigs) Bill keeps farrow crates, but gives pig farmers 10 years to adapt to slightly tougher restrictions.

A first reading of the bill passed in Parliament the week after it was announced.

The National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee (NAWAC) raised concerns with Hoggard about his plans in April, documents show.

The amendment bill meant that until December 2035, pig farmers could continue to put expectant sows in farrowing crates up to five days before birth and keep them there for up to four weeks after birth.

After December 2035, pregnant pigs can only be kept in the crates for three days before birth and four days after.

Farrowing crates are so small a sow cannot turn around in them. It prevents nesting behaviour and can lead to health problems but the pig industry argues they are necessary to stop sows from crushing their piglets.

Critics of the bill say putting pregnant sows in farrowing crates for any time prevents them from nest-building, which they are intrinsically highly motivated to do.

The bill does, from 2036 on, require sows to be given soft materials to engage in nest-building behaviours and increases the space in a farrow crate given to growing pigs by 13.3 percent.

But in advice to Hoggard, NAWAC chairperson Matthew Stone said he was "not satisfied" confinement of sows for up to three days prior to farrowing and with no change to design and allocation of space within farrowing pens would allow sows to fulfill nesting behaviour.

Current practices allowing crate use fell "below the minimum standards" prescribed in the Act, Stone said.

"We are concerned that any regulation regarding farrowing crates that does not address both of these issues would be considered to not meet the purpose of the Act and therefore be likely to result in continued legal challenge."

Labour's crate ban came after the High Court found farrowing crates were "unlawful" under the current Act.

Furthermore, an extra 13.3 percent space for growing pigs was not enough, said Stone. NAWAC's code had proposed increasing space by either 56 percent, or 140 percent.

"Our recommendation reflected a space requirement that allows all pigs to lie separated in a lateral position," Stone wrote.

The Amendment Act would also require farmers to provide "manipulable and deformable" materials for sows to engage in nest-building behaviour, though the exact types of materials that could be used have not been officially defined.

SPCA chief science advisor Arnja Dale said the material should be specified as straw.

"But I suspect this will be a hessian sack tied to the side of a farrowing crate which is not nest building material."

Auckland University associate law professor Marcelo Rodriguez Ferrere said it was extremely rare for an expert body's advice such as NAWAC to have been ignored.

"The government is essentially sidelining the very body that the [Animal Welfare] Act trusts with this sort of work, and the government is ignoring the agency that is supposed to be advising it," said Ferrere, who is also president of the Animal Law Association.

"That is super weird. It's just never happened before."

In a statement, Hoggard said considerable work had gone into finding a solution that strikes "the right balance" between providing a high standard of welfare for pigs while ensuring farmers could afford to make changes.

"In its report NAWAC acknowledged that its recommendations could have serious impacts on the viability of sectors of the pork industry and that they were matters for Ministers to balance, beyond the mandate of NAWAC."

NAWAC's 2022 recommendation would have cost an average indoor pig farm $1.57 million to pay for the proposed changes, he said.

"In comparison, total estimated capital expenditure investments for the changes I've recommended are $678,000," Hoggard said.

Consultation claims 'misleading'

In a press release announcing the reforms, Hoggard said the changes were the result of "five years of consultation".

"We've listened to and considered a broad range of perspectives," he said.

But Dale said she and her colleagues were "blindsided" by the announcement.

The five years of consultation referred to a major 2022 welfare code consultation that led to Labour's previous plan to ban farrowing crates, she said.

The new bill sharply contrasted with the original consultation outcome - a complete ban on farrowing.

The Ministry for Primary Industries' regulatory impact statement states it conducted "further targeted consultation" with NZ Pork, the industry body representing pig farmers, in 2024 and 2025.

"He announced extensive consultation, but it's just NZ Pork," Dale said.

NZ Pork had at least eight meetings with Hoggard since he came into office, according to his ministerial diaries. He met with the SPCA five times over that same period.

Dale said Hoggard never revealed any details about his planned pork reforms during those meetings, despite asking "multiple times".

"I meet with Minister Hoggard pretty regularly and he has never offered to share what was happening around pigs or bring us into any subsequent consultation, or anything at all."

On 30 September, she spoke to Hoggard's ministerial adviser Nick Hanson - who until 2024 was NZ Pork's policy manager - to let him know she was preparing the latest scientific evidence on farrowing crates.

"I said, 'It will be with you shortly, we're just finalising it'. And then the very next day that Beehive press release came out."

Green Party animal welfare spokesperson Steve Abel said Hoggard had "misled" the public by claiming he had widely consulted.

Hoggard disagreed.

"Extensive consultation has been carried out with key stakeholders and the public on pig welfare reforms," he said in a statement.

"The process of developing the draft code was consulted on in 2022. The National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee (NAWAC) consulted on specific proposals and the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) sought feedback on what might be appropriate to include in the regulations."

Contrasting reforms

That 2022 consultation canvassed two options, based on a draft code of welfare proposed by the government's National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee (NAWAC) in 2021: Either ban farrowing crates, or allow restricted use in a much larger crate.

NAWAC sent Hoggard its final code of welfare in February 2024, but it had only now been released, along with other related documents.

The code had become redundant as a result of the legislative change.

"NAWAC is currently reviewing the Code at the Minister's request. Following Parliament's approval of the Bill the Minister will look to issue a new Code," MPI said in a statement.

Abel said the consultation done in 2022 was on a different solution to the one he had brought to the table.

"I believe he has misled the public. And I also believe it is very clear that as the supposed minister of animal welfare he is in fact not prioritising the welfare of animals. He's prioritising the interests of the pork industry."

In Parliament, after the bill passed its first reading, he was quizzed by Abel over his lack of consultation.

"I will make zero apologies for talking to the people that regulations in this House will affect the most," Hoggard replied.

In a statement to RNZ, Hoggard said the new requirement, if passed, would be "among the highest in the world".

"Just three countries have instituted a ban on farrowing crates, and each provides farmers with generous taxpayer subsidies as compensation. The majority of countries around the world have either no limitations on farrowing crates, or rules that are the same as those I am proposing we transition away from.

"The few that have made similar changes have comparable transition times to those that I've proposed," Hoggard said.

MPI's director of regulatory systems policy Fiona Duncan said there had been extensive consultation with key stakeholders and the public over the past five years.

"We've listened to and considered a broad range of perspectives, including those of the nearly 4500 submissions that were received during the public consultation process.

"The final decision reflects a balance between animal welfare and economic realities. Acknowledging that the changes come at a cost to farmers, considerable effort has been made to find a solution that strikes a reasonable balance."

The minister also sought advice from NAWAC on the requirements for farrowing crates, mating stalls and spacing requirements proposed in the bill, she said.

Stone declined to be interviewed but in a brief statement told RNZ: "I will not be commenting to the media further on this topic unless instructed by the Minister to talk publicly about the advice that we have provided him throughout this process, but I expect NAWAC will be requested to participate in the Primary Production Committee process, during which I anticipate that advice will be explored."

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