Pig welfare has a price for Europe's pork lovers

Europe's pregnant pigs will be happier next year but pork eaters will pay more and some breeders will go out of business as new porcine welfare rules compound the spiraling cost of the cereals for animal feed.

Sow stalls, the metal cages used to hem in pregnant pigs and make them easier to control, are to be banned from January 1 across the 27-nation European Union, 11 years after the ban was first voted in by the bloc's lawmakers.