ACT bans battery cages and sow stalls

The sixth attempt by the ACT Greens to have sow stalls and battery cages banned has finally met with success with the ACT Labor government agreeing to support the legislation.

Though there are no intensive piggeries or battery egg farms in the ACT, the move sent an important message to the rest of the country, according to Greens minister Shane Rattenbury.

''To ban these elements of factory farming gives me great joy but I understand there is more to be done,'' he told the Canberra Times.

The ACT legislation also outlaws the practice of trimming or removing chickens' beaks.

In Tasmania, a battery hen ban now applies to new operators and a ban on sow stalls is being phased in over three years.

The Pace Farm battery farm at Parkwood in Canberra recently stopped producing battery eggs after the site was vandalised in 2012 and is now expected to be converted to barn eggs.