Members of the American Veal Association (AVA) continued their efforts this year in sharing their farm stories with others to learn how veal is raised today.
A team of Ohio State researchers, led by Monique Pairis-Garcia and funded by Kraft Heinz, aims to solve the problem of aggression in sow group housing — and make the transition an easier one for producers, processors and the sows themselves.
The pork industry’s decision to convert to sow housing in recent years had been driven predominantly ethical concerns, but scientific research may yet help producers transition more easily to group housing and handle the new set of challenges it brings.
At the end of 2012 it had successfully transitioned 38% of pregnant sows on its company-owned farms in the United States from individual gestation stalls to group housing systems.
Sometimes, it pays to do the right thing, rather than follow that which data supports. Veal producers in the United States are learning that lesson as they transition from the