Farmers and animal lovers criticize the minister over new pig regulations

Pigs in Danish farms will receive more happy feed.

New rules on pig welfare came into force on March 1st.

Now, all piglets must be locally anesthetized before they are castrated, and farmers will be obligated to use overflow systems that can spray water on the pigs when it is hot in the barn.

However, the Danish Pig Producers and the Animal Welfare Organization agree that the rules will not make a significant difference for the pigs.

Food Minister Jacob Jensen (V) believes that the new rules are a good compromise. (Photo: © Mads Claus Rasmussen, Ritzau Scanpix)

- We don't need more rules. We already have enough. It's just more bureaucracy for us, says Jeppe Bloch Nielsen, chairman of the Danish Pig Producers.

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No Effect

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He points out that local anesthesia during castration is already part of the Danish pig producers' quality standard, and that it is already mandatory to have overflow systems in the barns.

- Today, it is me as an expert who determines when it is necessary with overflow. I think it is pointless to say that we should spray water over the pigs if it means worse pig welfare in practice, says Jeppe Bloch Nielsen.

He fears that the rules will make farmers make the pigs wet, even if it is not hot enough.

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More Welfare for Pigs

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The new pig rules are part of the animal welfare agreement, which was signed in the Folketing in February 2024.

Behind the agreement were the Social Democrats, the Liberals, the Moderates, the Socialist People's Party, the Liberal Alliance, the Conservative People's Party, the Radical Liberals, the Danish People's Party, and Alternative.

According to the food minister, the Folketing is on its way to introducing an educational requirement for employees in pig farms and a limit on mortality, which will result in special advisory visits to the farms where many pigs die.

According to Statistics Denmark, 30.7 million pigs were slaughtered and exported from Denmark last year.

In the Animal Welfare Organization, chief consultant Brigitte Iversen Damm agrees that the pigs will not get significantly better with the new rules.

However, the agreement holds up here.

- The agreement here takes too much into account for the business. It is only a microstep, which is blown up to something it is not, says Brigitte Iversen Damm.

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A Compromise

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She and the Animal Welfare Organization, like the food minister, point out that more than half of the piglets (https://www.landbrugsinfo.dk/public/3/1/0/management_landsgennemsnit_produktion_grise_2023) still die in the barns, and that around 95% (https://fvm.dk/nyheder-og-pressemeddelelser/2024/sep/ny-afgiftsordning-skal-sikre-faerre-kuperede-grisehaler) of the pigs have a piece of their tail cut off to avoid biting.

- The pigs have had it really bad, and it has been going on for years. So there is a lot that needs to be done before anything changes, says the chief consultant.

Food Minister Jacob Jensen (V) believes that the pigs will actually get better with the new rules.

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> It's not more rules we have a need for. We already have enough. It's just more bureaucracy for us.

> Jeppe Bloch Nielsen, chairman of the Danish Pig Producers.

- It is a balanced agreement, where we on the one hand preserve pig production with export and jobs, and at the same time make it so that pig welfare improves.

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