Colorado governor to sign ban on veal crates, sow stalls

Denver - 5/13/08 - Gov. Bill Ritter is expected tomorrow to sign a bill that phases out swine gestation stalls and veal crates in Colorado.

The new law reflects a deal brokered between the Colorado Pork Producers Council and the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), which was threatening to push a ballot initiative that also included a ban on battery cages for layer hens.

HSUS President Wayne Pacelle promises not to abandon the hen housing issue, but he says the mediation between producers and the animal activist group is encouraging. In fact, it saved the agriculture industry from having to spend millions of dollars fighting a ballot measure that's already passed in Florida and Arizona. Last year, Oregon became the nation's third state to ban sow gestation stalls when lawmakers quietly passed a bill with little resistance from agriculture -- a signal, insiders say, of industry's apparent resignation to the housing system's demise in small agriculture states. California voters will decide on a ballot initiative to ban sow gestation stalls in November.

The Colorado law gives producers in a state that ranks 14th in swine production 10 years to phase out sow gestation stalls and move to a group housing system. Producers using veal crates were granted four-year reprieve on the ban.

The Colorado Pork Producers Council, representing 750 producers, agreed to the ban in December based on members' feedback and marketing indicators, Executive Director Ivan Steinke explains.

"Our producers in Colorado wanted to be proactive," he says.