The bill amends the Animal Welfare (Care and Procedures) Regulations 2018 to manage the transition of pig farming practices beyond the 18 December 2025 expiry of regulations 26 and 27, and validates those regulations following a High Court decision. It enacts in primary legislation rules around the use of farrowing crates that would normally sit in regulations.
Parliament advanced this bill under urgency (committee of whole house, second reading, third reading) — moving it through faster than usual, with less time than normal for public submissions.
These are claims MPs made in Parliament’s debate — not verified facts.
This Bill sets new animal-welfare rules for how farmed pigs are managed, made under the Animal Welfare Act 1999. It focuses on two controversial practices: farrowing crates, narrow metal pens that confine a mother pig (sow) around the time she gives birth, and mating stalls. Rather than banning farrowing crates, the Bill keeps them lawful but limits how long sows may be confined and phases in tighter standards over roughly a decade. In an initial period, a sow could be crated for up to five days before birth and four weeks after; from December 2035 that shrinks to about three days before and four days after. From 2036 sows must be given soft materials to build a nest, and the minimum space for growing pigs increases by 13.3%. Pig farmers and the pigs in their care are directly affected.
The Bill was prompted by a High Court ruling that found existing pig-management regulations, including routine farrowing-crate use, inconsistent with the Animal Welfare Act, requiring the government to set new rules. Supporters, notably the pork industry body NZ Pork, argue farrowing crates protect newborn piglets from being accidentally crushed by the sow, and that a long transition period keeps the changes financially manageable for farmers. Opponents, including the SPCA and welfare group SAFE, argue prolonged confinement denies sows their strong instinct to build a nest and move freely, that the 13.3% space increase is far smaller than experts advised, and that the timeline is too slow - noting the government's own independent animal-welfare advisers favoured stronger protections.
See the Parliament.nz ↗ site for the full bill.