A reader writes:
The five-year phase-out of gestation crates will be an improvement, but the situation for pigs will still be dire. As Mark Bittman said in the article you linked to: "sows will still be raised in what can only be called industrial conditions…" From having their tails and testicles hacked off without anesthesia, to living in extremely crowded factories with acrid air, to sleeping on hard concrete (they love making themselves soft beds) and having sores all over their bodies as a result, to being transported to slaughter in crowded trucks and arriving injured, dehydrated and hungry, to horribly painful slaughter, including sometimes being dunked into "scalding tanks" fully conscience. (You can see the scalding process here. Other abuses here and [above].)
Yes, eliminating gestation crates is a positive, but if anyone thinks it is, therefore, somehow okay to use these products, then this could lead to even more suffering for these highly intelligent, social beings.
The Dish 