New California law may impact Iowa hog farmers - KCRG

COLLINS, Iowa (KCCI) - A new California law could hurt hog farmers in Iowa.

The law bans the use of gestation stalls and creates larger minimum pen size requirements for hogs, chickens, and veal calves.

Gestation stalls are a smaller type of pen that don’t allow a sow to turn around after giving birth and keeps the sow by itself.

The ban means pork producers who use these pens cannot sell to California.

Iowa farmer Dave Struthers said the pens are designed for protection.

“It protects the piglets from getting laid on because the sow can’t turn around and do a lot of things to crush them and hurt them,” Struthers said. “They can have individualized care.”

The Humane Society of the U.S. led the ballot initiative which passed the law in 2018 with almost 63 percent of the vote.

Businesses who don’t comply with the law and use meat which does not meet the requirement can face a fine up to a thousand dollars and jail time for up to 180 days.

“Many of the largest meat companies in the United States have publicly stated that they are Prop 12 compliant, and they are eager to sell to California,” Josh Balk, with the Humane Society of the U.S.

The National Pork Producers Council is suing the Secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture.

The U.S. Supreme Court could decide to hear arguments on the appeal of that case as early as Friday.

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source: https://www.kcrg.com/2022/01/04/new-california-law-may-impact-iowa-hog-farmers/

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