- The National Farm Animal Care Council’s (NFACC) Pig Code of Practice, last updated in 2014, was up for review until June 4, 2025.
- The code of practice serves as a guideline for the on-farm care and handling of pigs raised in Canada.
- There are many significant welfare issues associated with the current pig code of practice, including: extreme confinement; lack of opportunities to engage in natural behaviour; lameness and injury; unnecessary painful procedures; and inhumane forms of on-farm euthanasia.
- Hundreds of advocates spoke up for pigs, submitting their top welfare concerns with help from the VHS’s tip sheet.
- Keep an eye out for the next public feedback stage around fall 2026 to winter 2027, when NFACC will release specific updates for comment.
Thank you! The 5-minute survey to speak up for millions of pigs is now closed.
Photo: Jo-Anne McArthur/We Animals
Note: Click or tap to expand images. Though the images do not show graphic violence or injuries, they depict animal suffering and may be upsetting to some viewers. All photos were taken on Canadian pig farms between 2020 and 2022.
Top welfare priorities
Extreme confinement
Recommendation: End extreme confinement, including use of gestation and farrowing crates.
Background: Gestation and farrowing crates are used to isolate and confine individual pigs who are pregnant (gestation crates) and ready to give birth and nurse piglets (farrowing crates).
Both types of enclosures are so small and narrow that the mother pig can only stand up, lie down, and take a few steps forward or back, but cannot turn around.
On an industrial pig farm, a sow chews repetitively on the metal bars of her gestation crate while her neighbours drink accumulated water from a channel that runs in front of their enclosures. Sows confined inside these bare, concrete-floored enclosures can sit, stand and lie down, but they cannot walk or turn around. Quebec, Canada, 2022.
Lack of space & enrichment
Recommendation: Require more space and species-specific enrichment opportunities to engage in natural behaviours.
Background: Inadequate space and overcrowding can contribute to stress, aggression, injury and lameness and restrict the ability to engage in important natural behaviours.
Appropriate environmental enrichment is crucial for allowing pigs to express species-specific natural behaviours (e.g. rooting, chewing, exploring) and prevent boredom, stress and abnormal behaviours. Appropriate nesting materials are also a crucial form of enrichment for pregnant pigs.
Young pigs live in compact pens inside this industrial farming facility. The windows open to the hallway and not to the outdoors, and investigators confirm that the pigs live in complete darkness except for when a farm hand enters the rooms. Canada, 2020.
Unnecessary painful procedures
Recommendation: End painful procedures, such as castration, tail docking, teeth clipping, and ear notching.
Background: Pigs can experience acute and chronic pain during and after these unnecessary procedures. Current pain control requirements do not account for both acute and chronic pain. For instance, castration for piglets younger than 10 days of age requires the use of analgesics (for lasting relief), but anesthetics (for immediate pain) are only “recommended”.
Pigs can be seen with docked tails on an industrial farm. Tail docking of pigs does not require anesthetics for acute pain control. Canada, 2020.
Inhumane forms of euthanasia
Recommendation: Ban euthanasia by blunt force trauma.
Background: Blunt force trauma, usually striking the piglet’s head against a hard surface or with a blunt instrument, is an approved method of euthanizing piglets under the current code of practice. This unethical practice presents significant welfare risks and places an emotional burden on handlers.
Curious piglets look at one another from inside a small pen. The pig on the right is ill and thin. At this farm, there are no windows facing the exterior and the pigs live in darkness. Canada, 2020.
Lameness & injury
Recommendation: Improve flooring, bedding and housing conditions to reduce lameness and injury.
Background: Concrete, slatted flooring has been identified as a major contributor to lameness and injuries in pigs. Improved flooring requirements are needed to reduce the incidence of lameness and injury and to ensure pigs can move freely and lie down and rise comfortably.
Access to bedding, such as straw or shavings, can provide thermal comfort, cushioning and enrichment opportunities.
Slatted floors can be seen in this pig farm that houses more than one thousand pigs in a windowless building. Investigators told We Animals Media they had visited this farm many times and confirmed that the lights inside the building were only turned on when people briefly entered to check on and feed the pigs. Canada, 2020.