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Michigan farmers agree to ban cruel confinement practices
(Updated October 13, 2009)

On October 12, 2009, Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm signed into law a landmark piece of legislation that was the result of extensive negotiations between animal advocates and the state’s agricultural industry. The new law will require that egg-laying hens, breeding pigs and veal calves must be able to stand up, lie down, turn around and extend their limbs, rather than being confined in cages that permit very limited movement.

The law phases out veal crates for calves within three years, and battery cages for laying hens and gestation crates for breeding sows within ten years. The state has more than ten million laying hens, approximately 100,000 breeding pigs, and is ranked by the Cattleman’s Beef Board as a top veal-producing state (no official numbers are available). With the governor’s signature, Michigan became the seventh state to ban gestation crates, the fifth to ban veal crates, and the second to ban battery cages.

To get this legislation passed, we worked with the Michigan Humane Society and the Humane Society of the United States, as well as Michigan farmers. In supporting this important reform, Michigan farmers have joined consumers and animal welfare experts in recognizing that keeping animals in such restrictive conditions is an inhumane practice that has no place in a civilized society. Unfortunately, proponents of factory farming in other parts of the country have been unwilling to embrace change. Now, more than ever, we need your help to ban these terrible confinement systems in every state.

Please join our Advocacy Campaign Team today, and find out how you can help us make a difference for farm animals across the country.