The controversial gestation stalls are still present in Alberta and it doesn't look like they are going anywhere for a while.  

A sow stall is a small, metal enclosure where female breeding pigs are kept during pregnancy.

"While we do have some producers in Alberta who use group housing, for the most part, producers in North America use gestation stalls," explains Darcy Fitzgerald, Executive Director with Alberta Pork.

He says phasing out gestation stalls can't just happen over night, especially in this economy.

"It requires infrastructure change and additional, qualified labour at a time when it is really tough to find labour," Fitzgerald explains. "It's a bigger than just saying we're going to set a number and this is what it's going to be."  

He says that the number of farmers in Canada is drastically dropping, so it's not an easy time to be making big changes in the industry.

"If you look at Alberta over the last decade, we've lost more than half of our producers."

Group housing is an alternative option to the stalls, but it involves a lot more work for producers.

He says with group housing there is opportunity for sows to compete for food, water and resting places, meaning they waste energy on aggression instead of reproduction.  

"We do have some producers with group housing right now and they've planned for it and have the right labour and management system," he explains. "It takes a lot more attention to watch those animals. You have to worry about things like sows bullying each other."

Pork producers in Alberta follow the current Code of Practice where it states that gestation stalls are still permissible.

The release date for the updated Code of Practice will be in 2013, and they are looking into changes regarding use of the stalls.  
 
Fitzgerald says if they make the decision to phase out sow stalls, they may see a huge decline in pork producers because they wont be able to afford to continue producing.  

"Gestation stalls are one thing, and there are many other thing we are being asked to change as well," he says.