Economic Analysis of Alternatives to Confinement Pork Production

Abstract

In the past twenty years, a great deal of controversy has arisen over how hogs, raised for pork, should be treated. Most hog production today takes place inside confinement facilities where hogs are housed in cramped quarters, on hard floors, and with little opportunity for expressing normal behaviors. While this system produces safe, inexpensive pork, some consumers prefer to pay higher pork prices in return for greater animal well-being This study measures the cost of hog production under three alternatives to the conventional hog confinement system. One alternative concerns a small modification for the housing of gestating sows, while the other two concern more drastic changes to hog production practices. The flow of farm systems from (1) confinement-stall to (2) confinement-pen to (3) confinement-enhanced and to (4) shelter-pasture system is intended to capture systems that are increasing in farm animal welfare, in that a shelter-pasture system is thought to be superior to the other three systems, and the confinement-pen system is thought to be superior only to the confinement-stall system. The increasing animal welfare from confinement-stall to shelter-pasture raises production costs.