x.com/AndrewCritchPhD/status/2050697566590009387
1 correction found
"cents on the dollar" is all the pork industry saves by using these inhumane gestation crates and farrowing crates.
Available non-AI sources do not confirm a 4–8% ceiling. USDA says eliminating gestation stalls alone raises farrow-to-finish production costs by 8.7%, and reviews of farrowing alternatives find additional cost increases on top of that.
Full reasoning
This sentence overstates the evidence.
- A USDA Economic Research Service article says that, for a farrow-to-finish operation, converting away from gestation stalls alone would raise the per-pound cost of producing finished hogs by 8.7%.
- The post's quoted range is supposed to cover both gestation crates and farrowing crates together. If gestation-stall removal by itself is already estimated at 8.7%, then the claim that the total savings from using both systems is only 4–8 cents on the dollar is not "confirmed" by the available evidence.
- Independent reviews of farrowing systems also report additional costs for crate-free alternatives, not zero cost. For example, Pork Information Gateway summarizes higher facility/labor costs for several non-crate farrowing systems and notes that for pen systems the extra floor-space cost "cannot be offset by production." A 2025 multi-stakeholder report summarizing AHDB and other sources likewise reports 3.5% to 4.0% higher production costs for free-farrowing systems versus crates in some modeled cases.
So the post's categorical claim ("is all the pork industry saves") is contradicted by published estimates: gestation alone has been estimated above the post's upper bound, and farrowing changes add further cost rather than none.
3 sources
- Farm Animal Welfare Policies Cover Breeding Sows, Veal Calves, or Laying Hens in 14 U.S. States | USDA Economic Research Service
"For an operation that raises hogs from birth to slaughter weight (farrow-to-finish operations), converting away from gestation stalls would increase the per-pound cost of producing finished hogs by 8.7 percent."
- Alternative farrowing options in the swine industry - Pork Information Gateway
Table 1 lists higher facility costs for several non-crate systems than for a conventional crate ($2820/sow for conventional crate vs. $3328 designed pen, $4478 modified crate, $4595 group system), and the article says that for pen systems "cost associated with additional floor space cannot be offset by production."
- Multi-Stakeholder Action Plan Report 2025
The report's Table 2 says free-farrowing systems increase cost of production relative to crates by "4.0%" and "3.5%" in cited estimates, and explains that a 5-year transition period adds further cost.