The world’s largest pork producer, Smithfield Foods, said this week they’ve moved 87 percent of their pregnant sows out of gestation crates to group housing. The company is also on track to eliminate all gestation crates by the end of this year. If the company can complete the transition, it would complete a ten-year plan that began back in 2007. The move is seen as a win for the Humane Society of the U.S., which has led successful ballot initiatives in nine states to outlaw the crates. However, the Humane Society is not satisfied with the progress. President Wayne Pacelle is happy with the reforms but notes that cruel treatment continues. Pacelle noted in a blog post, “While Smithfield is moving toward group housing, it’s still confining pregnant sows into cramped spaces for several weeks at the beginning of their pregnancies. This is cruel, and if sows must be individually housed for a period, there’s no reason to give them a space so small they can’t turn around.”