Piggery legal requirements

All piggery owners need to meet local, state and industry legal requirements.

These legal standards are monitored by state government and industry authorities.

Register your property

Anyone who keeps 1 or more pigs in Queensland must:

Moving pigs

You have to meet certain legal requirements if you move pigs within or into Queensland from other states and territories.

Welfare code

All pig producers and their staff have a duty of care for the animals under their supervision and must comply with the laws set out in the Animal Care and Protection Act 2001 to provide appropriate care for them.

All pork producers must meet the requirements of the pig welfare code.

Husbandry training

The pig welfare code states that pigs must be cared for by personnel who are skilled in pig husbandry and competent to maintain the health and welfare of the animals in keeping with the standards listed in the code, or by someone who is directly supervised by these personnel.

The welfare code encourages piggery staff to complete formal training (either the Pork Industry Stockperson Skill Set or Certificate III in Pork Production or equivalent) through a registered training organisation.

Herds participating in the Australian Pork Industry Quality Assurance Program (APIQ) must provide evidence of on-going staff training programs to achieve certification.

Quality assurance program

All export standard abattoirs and most domestic abattoirs require their pig suppliers to be members of the Australian Pork Industry Quality Assurance Program (APIQ).

APIQ helps pig farmers and pork producers demonstrate how they meet the production standards required by customers, consumers and regulators.

APIQ certifies production systems against standards covering the following systems:

  • indoor (IN) – all pigs are housed
  • free range (FR) – all pigs are run in paddocks
  • outdoor-bred, raised indoors on straw (OB) – breeding sows are run in paddocks, but the progeny are housed on straw after weaning
  • gestation stall free (GSF) – sows are housed in individual stalls for no more than 5 days.

The standards cover management, food safety, animal welfare, biosecurity, traceability, environmental impacts and transport.

AUS-MEAT Ltd is contracted by Australian Pork Ltd (APL) to complete the annual third party compliance audit.