Pig Farming

Truth and Fiction

Most pigs aren't lucky enough to live on old-fashioned farms like "Babe". Most are kept in sheds on concrete floors, surrounded by metal bars. This method is called "intensive farming", or “factory farming", because large numbers of animals are crowded into small spaces as in a factory production line.

Up to half the breeding sows still spend their pregnancies in individual sow stalls , where rows of sows are separated from each other by metal bars. These stalls are so small that the pigs can never turn around - they can only take one or or two steps forwards or backwards. In all states except NSW it is still legal to chain a sow to the stall by a collar around the neck or stomach. If someone kept a dog in this way they would be prosecuted for cruelty.

Before they are due to give birth to their piglets, most sows are moved to an even smaller space called a farrowing crate . The crate is surrounded by metal bars for the piglets to crawl under to avoid being squashed by the sow. The heavily pregnant pigs with milk-swollen udders have to lie on cold, hard concrete. They have no straw for comfort or to make a nest with, as they would in the wild.

After they are taken away from their mothers at about 3 weeks of age, most piglets are kept in bare and crowded pens. They are fattened until they are 4-6 months old, when they are herded on to trucks and transported to the slaughterhouse. There they are stunned by being given an electric shock behind the ears from a pair of tongs. They are then hung up by the back feet and their throat is cut.

Why is intensive farming cruel?

Concrete pens and stalls are small and uncomfortable. Most of the pigs' natural behaviours are prevented, leading to stress and frustration.

Intensive housing doesn't allow the Five Freedoms . The Five Freedoms were drawn up by the Farm Animal Welfare Council, set up the UK government. They are widely accepted as a standard of animal welfare. The Five Freedoms are:

  1. Freedom from thirst, hunger and malnutrition - by ready access to fresh water and a diet to maintain full health and vigour.

    Growing pigs have plenty of food and water because the whole aim is to get them to reach slaughter weight as quickly as possible. However, breeding sows are constantly hungry, and this hunger is one of the causes of the repetitive, abnormal behaviour seen in the sows. Because pigs are especially bred to put on weight, an unlimited diet of concentrated pellets would make the sows too fat, but the answer is to give them more high fibre food to fill them up without excess calories.

  2. Freedom from discomfort - by providing a suitable environment including shelter and a comfortable resting area.

    Concrete without bedding such as straw is a particularly uncomfortable surface to lie on. Piglets skin their front knees on this rough floor. Sows, especially in farrowing crates, have so little space that they can't stretch and move freely.

  3. Freedom from pain, injury and disease - by prevention or rapid diagnosis and treatment.

    Sheds crowded full of pigs are invariably smelly, with a strong smell of dung and urine. With ammonia and dust in the air, and so many young pigs close together, pneumonia is common.

    Lack of exercise produces a high level of lameness in sows. Some are so badly affected that they are killed - around 10% of sows are culled because of lameness. For more details go to Physical problems in intensive piggeries .

    Young pigs naturally chew objects such as roots and grass. However, in bare pens with nothing to do they sometimes chew each other's tails. The "solution" is to cut off up to half of the tail, which is obviously very painful. Piglets also have their eye teeth clipped off, and males may still be castrated, all without any pain relief. For more details go to Physical problems in intensive piggeries .

  4. Freedom to express normal behaviour - by providing sufficient space, proper facilities and company of the animal's own kind.

    Modern pigs still have the same instincts as their ancestors. When given the opportunity, they are active and need space to move, especially when young. They are sociable and live in family groups. They root in the ground and spend a large part of the day searching for fibrous food. Sows build nests out of branches and grasses when they are ready to give birth to their young. For more details go to Natural behaviour of pigs .

    Most of these normal behaviours are prevented in intensive housing. The result is that pigs develop abnormal behaviours, like waving their heads from side to side, biting bars over and over again, or biting each other's tails. Some sows become apathetic and unresponsive, like a depressed person. For more details go to Evidence of suffering .

  5. Freedom from fear and distress - by ensuring conditions which avoid mental suffering.

    For all farm animals a major source of fear and distress is being herded into trucks for transport to the slaughterhouse. In addition, intensively housed pigs have the added distress of living in an uncomfortable and crowded environment that doesn't allow them to express their normal behaviour.

Intensive housing measures up very poorly against the Five Freedoms.

What is the law protecting pigs?

The law doesn't offer much protection to pigs, considering that it is legal to keep them in cramped stalls and to cut off part of their tail.

Apart from the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PCA) Act in each state, there is also a Model Code of Practice for the Welfare of Animals - The Pig (2nd ed.). It is this Code that sets the legal standards. For example, the PCA Act in SA states that all animals must have exercise, but according to the Code:


Clearly normal exercise is impossible in these confined spaces, but it is legal to keep pigs in this way because the Code of Practice says so.

The Code says: " It is desirable that permanent housing in stalls be phased out " and " Developed alternatives to the current farrowing crates should be considered ", but it still allows stalls and farrowing crates. The Code also states: " The restraint of sows by neck tethers is considered an unacceptable practice ", but it doesn't say that tethers are banned.

The Code says castration should be avoided, but still allows it to be done with a knife, without anaesthetic in the first 8 weeks of life. It allows routine tail docking in the first 7 days, even though it acknowledges that environmental problems lead to tail biting. It allows the teeth of piglets to be cut with clippers, and notches to be cut out of the ears for identification. All these mutilations cause pain, and would be illegal if done to a companion animal such as a dog or cat.

For more a more detailed critique of animal protection laws in general, go to Animals and the Law .

To see a copy of the SA Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, go to the Australasian Legal Information Institute site.

To download a copy of the Code of Practice, go to the Department of Primary Industries and Energy site.

Investigations by animal activists

Agriculture departments and farmers don't like to admit that there are welfare problems in intensive piggeries, yet on several occasions investigations have found major problems.

In 1990 Elio Celotto worked at the huge Bunge piggery in southern NSW for 3 months. There were 230,000 pigs there at the time. Elio's diary records many instances of pigs being beaten, sometimes because they were in the way, or because they made too much noise, or because they didn't walk fast enough when they were being moved. He also observed sick pigs that were not treated, pens with broken floor boards, and build up of excrement. The vet at the piggery told the Border Mail newspaper that " it was impossible to inspect every pig in a 230,000 head piggery to ensure they were not sick ". The RSPCA took no legal action against the piggery.

In November 1996 a group of animal liberationists entered the same piggery. They found pigs who had swollen joints, who were lame and had festering wounds. By the time they returned the next day with agriculture officials and the RSPCA, the company had treated some of the wounds. However, some of the animals were deemed in such poor condition that they were euthanased, and some were moved into the treatment area for further attention.

In November 1995 a group of animal liberationists entered the Parkville piggery near Scone in NSW. They found sows with embedded neck tethers, severely infected and swollen feet, and lameness. However, rather then charging the owners with cruelty, the police charged the animal liberationists with trespass. These charges were later dismissed by a magistrate.

In May 1996, the Parkville piggery was sold. The new owners were "very disappointed with welfare standards", and sacked half the staff, including the managers.

In 1997, Tania Jamieson worked at Boen Boe piggery near Mittagong in NSW. She describes extremely unhygienic conditions, including some faulty pens where a thick layer of manure built up. Sows had to lie in their own excrement. There were also several holes in the floor large enough for piglets to fall through into the manure pit below . It was the Boen Boe piggery that was exposed on "A Current Affair" in February 1998. Many viewers were shocked when they saw the conditions there.

Are other countries ahead of Australia?

Yes, some countries are. In Sweden and Norway intensive confinement of sows is effectively banned because housing must allow sows to turn around, which they can't do in stalls and farrowing crates. In 1997 Switzerland began a 10 year phase out of both individual sow stalls and farrowing crates. Individual stalls have been banned in the UK after 1999.

What are the alternatives?

Group pens

During their pregnancies sows are still indoors in sheds, but are kept in groups. They are in pens where they can move around and have bedding such as straw. They may be fed by an electronic feeder, which gives each sow a pre-determined ration.

Werribee farrowing pen

This very successful alternative to farrowing crates was designed in Werribee, Victoria. The sow is placed in the pen a few days before piglets are due to be born. She can turn around and walk freely. There is bedding such as rice hulls on the floor to build a nest. The sides of the pen are sloped to help the sow get up and down without squashing piglets. The piglets can also hide under the sloping sides, where there is a heater to keep them warm.

Family pens

This system has been used in Scotland, Switzerland and Norway, where groups of sows and their offspring are kept permanently together, until the piglets are ready for market and the sows are about to give birth to another litter. In other words, piglets are not taken away from their mothers until they are sold, and sows do not have separate housing for pregnancy and birth. The pens have separate areas for different activities, and contain material for rooting, chewing and building nests.

Free range

Sows can be kept outdoors in paddocks in areas where the environment is suitable. They have plenty of space, shade from the sun, wallows to keep cool, and opportunity to root and forage for food. Insulated huts with straw bedding can be used to give birth to piglets. With more space and fresh air, sows have no abnormal behaviour, less disease and less lameness.

Clearspan shelters

Growing pigs can be kept in what look like large plastic igloos, often 9m by 22m. The floor is covered with straw, so young pigs have the opportunity to run, play, root and chew straw. There is no tail biting or other abnormal behaviour, lower levels of disease, no smell, and no problem disposing of effluent - the straw absorbs the excrement and can be composted for use in gardens. The shelters are cheap and effective as well as being good for the pigs.

For more details on these points, go to Alternatives to intensive piggeries .

Some facts and figures

There are around 2.7 million pigs in Australia at any one time. Around 5 million pigs are slaughtered each year (1).

There are about 290,000 breeding sows. They each have an average of 2.2 litters a year (2). In each litter, an average of 10.2 piglets are born alive, and an average of 8.9 are weaned from their mother around 3 weeks later, which means that 12.2% die during this time (3).

The largest 2% of farms hold 40% of the sows, which means that there are some very large farms - some farms have up to 20,000 breeding sows (2). A survey of pig farms showed that 26% had only individual sow stalls, 28% had only group pens, 36% had both, and 10% had some outside area for sows (4).

Chemicals in the pig industry

Since 1995 it has been legal to inject Porcine Somatotrophin (PST) into pigs to make them grow faster. There are 2 problems with this naturally occurring hormone:

  1. it requires daily injections, which are stressful to the pigs;

  2. pigs already suffer from leg problems as a result of growing too fast.

One farmer who injects PST daily with automatic guns when the pigs reach 70kg has said:
" 'They say the pigs get used to it, but they don't,' Chris said. 'We have also had a few problems with legs. When the pigs are bunched up together they knock each other around a bit more than normal. But I suppose you have to live with that'" (5).

Growing pigs already have abnormal bone development in their legs as a result of growing too fast, giving them weak legs. Because PST makes them grow even faster, there is an increase in leg problems (6).

Antibiotics can be added to the feed of intensively farmed animals such as pigs and chickens to make them grow faster. An NH&MRC report has said: "... the use of antibiotic growth promotants in pigs is common ". Small doses are used on a regular basis, and the aim is not to cure an existing disease.

The problem with using antibiotic in this way is that bacteria can develop resistance - the drug will no longer kill bacteria when it is used to treat a disease. The antibiotics used in animal industries to increase growth are not the same ones as used in human medicine. However:

In food poisoning by Salmonella bacteria in the US, the percentage of cases caused by a strain resistant to 5 major antibiotics has increased dramatically since 1980. Some researchers blame this increase in antibiotic resistant bacteria on the use of antibiotics in farm animals. It is very worrying that some human infections are becoming more difficult to treat because of the use of antibiotics as growth promotants on intensive farms. For more details, go to Antibiotics in agriculture .

What can I do?

There are certainly more humane ways to keep pigs than in factory farms. However, pigs are sent to the same slaughterhouses, so consumers don't know how the pigs they are eating have been raised. And this is the key point - even well-treated pigs are eventually herded on to trucks and sent to slaughter. The best way to play your part in stopping suffering is not to eat animals at all. You can choose to stop eating pork, and the many products manufactured from pigs, such as ham, bacon, salami, pepperoni and other smallgoods. For some suggestions on how to change to a cruelty-free diet, go to Vegetarianism - the cruelty-free diet . You can now buy products such as Notbacon or Notpepperoni made by the Longa Life company. Look in the supermarket chiller cabinet.

For more detailed information about pigs, including references, you can go to:
Natural behaviour of pigs
Physical problems in intensive piggeries
Evidence of suffering in intensive piggeries
Alternatives to intensive piggeries

References

  1. Australian Bureau of Statistics, Year Book Australia 1999 , Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra, 1999

  2. North R, "Pig meat" in National Farmers' Federation, Australian Agriculture 1997/8 (6th ed.), Morescope Publishing, Hawthorne East, 1997

  3. Meo H & Cleary G (1998), PigStats 97 , Australian Pork Corporation

  4. >Paterson R, Cargill C & Pointon A (1997), "Sow management practices in 59 herds", Pig Industry News, July (9)

  5. McErlane B (1999), "PST has helped Chris in tough times", Milne's Pork Journal , Jan. (15,18)

  6. >Simonsen H (1993), "PST treatment and leg disorders in growing swine: a welfare hazard?" Livestock Production Science , vol 36 (67-70)