Police officers have used an angle grinder to cut a protester free of a grain silo on a Waikato piggery to which the man had chained himself.
The 22-year-old was freed after the farm manager called officers to the property between Cambridge and Te Awamutu just before 9pm on Sunday, where the man and supporters had been since the morning, police say.
When bolt-cutters proved ineffective, officers used an angle grinder to cut the chains holding him.
The man was protesting against the draft Code of Welfare for pigs, as the Friday's closing date for submissions approaches.
Police have urged farmers to follow the example of the farm manager, and call police rather than approach tresspassers.
A south Auckland man will appear in the Hamilton District Court on Monday charged with trespass and being unlawfully on a property.