Liberate

Around 10,000 years ago the European wild boar was domesticated and this gave rise to the pink domesticated pig that can be seen on factory farms world wide.

In the wild pigs live in herds of between 2 and 6 females and their recent offspring. Within this group a stable hierarchy forms based on age and size; with the older and larger females being the most dominant. During mating season, a male will enter the group and assume dominance of the group until mating has been successful.

During a typical day, pigs would spend their time foraging for food or sleeping in one of many nesting sites they have within their home range. These nests are made by the pigs arranging grass, twigs and other bedding materials. During the evening the whole herd will sleep together on a communal nest at the centre of the herd’s home range.

On a factory farm pigs are unable to carry out these important instinctual behaviours.

In New Zealand there are over 350,000 pigs on factory farms; most destined to be eaten.

They live in filthy crammed conditions, unable to display any of their natural behaviours such as foraging, nesting, forming hierarchies and in many cases even turning around.

Boars and Gilts
Naturally, boars would leave their mother at 7 months of age. After this time they would primarily have a solitary life roaming a home range greater than 100 hectares in area.

On a factory farm boars are confined to individual stalls or small group pens. The close proximity to other boars can be stressful. The confinement leads to the boars suffering from boredom, frustration and a lack of exercise.
Sows who have not yet been bred are known as gilts and are often housed in small group pens.

Despite common perception; pigs are very clean animals and would naturally have a dunging area well separated from their sleeping nest. In group pens there are generally about 4 or 5 gilts in an area only a few square meters in area. This results in the pigs being covered in their own excrement. The high level of ammonia in the atmosphere also leads to urine scald.

Sow Stalls
Over half of the sows in NZ are placed in dry sow stalls for either part or all of their 115 day pregnancy. When the sows are about to give birth they are transferred to a farrowing crate. Given that sows are either nursing young or are pregnant they are essentially confined for their entire life on the farm.

A sow’s home range would usually be upwards of 100 hectares. However on a factory farm they are restricted to an area that measures 60 centimetres by 2 metres. The sows can not turn around in these stalls; they can only sit, stand or lie down.

Sows have strong behavioural desires to root and forage. Confinement and barren living conditions mean that the sows cannot carry out these behaviours and they become bored and frustrated. This leads to the development of abnormal behaviours which the sows regularly repeat. These behaviours include bar chewing, sham chewing, head weaving and tongue rolling.

Sows have also shown behaviour indicative of learned helplessness and depression; this is apparent in sows who can be seen in the ‘dog-sitting’ position.

Confinement also harms the sows physically; frustration can cause the sows to bite the ears of neighbouring sows leaving them with open wounds. The constant contact wit the metal stall bars also leave the sows with cuts and scratches. The constant kneeling on a concrete floor results in calluses forming on the sows knees.

Sows confined to stalls are prone to developing overgrown toenails which result in lameness, foot injuries and leg and foot deformities.

Pigs have strong maternal instincts and confinement to a sow stall makes it impossible for the expectant mother to prepare for the birth of her litter. Before the birth, the mother sow would naturally prepare a special nest for her young. On a factory farm sows cannot do this and instead are moved to a new stall called a farrowing crate where she will give birth and attempt to care for her young.

Farrowing Crates
Over 70 percent of all sows are confined to these crates for the birth of their young and will stay there for up to 6 weeks before being impregnated again and returned to a sow stall.
Farmers justify the use of farrowing crates by arguing that the piglets would be crushed to death by their mother if she was not confined. Piglets are generally only crushed under farm situations and in farrowing crates around 25
percent of piglets are crushed by their mothers. When sows are not confined to a small pen or crate they would normally perform a regular behaviour sequence when sitting and lying down to help minimise the chance of piglet crushing.

By day 3 the piglets are commonly subjected to surgical procedures with out anaesthetic. These procedures include tail clipping, ear notching, tooth clipping and castration. Pigs have a complex brain and series of pain receptors. Experts say that it is likely that the feeling of pain experienced by these piglets would be similar to that which humans would experience.

Piglets become stressed under farm situations and this can lead to tail biting. Rather than removing the cause of the problem farmers instead choose to remove part of the piglets’ tail. Pigs use their tail for communication and such usage is considerably impaired by this procedure.

Ear notching means a piglets ear is essentially hole punched for identification purposes.

The teeth of piglets are usually shortened in order to avoid damage to the mother’s udder and to the other piglets. Such damage often does not occur or is very minor. Shortening of the point teeth is usually carried out by clipping half of their initial length.

Castration is carried out on all male piglets that are not going to be retained for breeding. The principal purpose of this procedure is to prevent ‘boar taint’ in the flesh of older male pigs.

Fattening Pens
In the wild piglets would be weaned at about 17 weeks of age but would remain with their mothers herd until they are at least 7 months old. On a factory farm the piglets are taken from their mothers at about 4 weeks old and placed in fattening pens or retained for breeding and sow ‘replacement’ purposes.

In a typical farm set up several hundred piglets from different litters are placed in a series of small pens in a dark concrete floored shed. The conditions are overcrowded and filthy. Like the boars and gilts, the piglets will quickly end up covered in their own excrement.

Pigs are very social and inquisitive animals with a complex brain. In a natural setting these piglets would be playing and learning by exploring their large home range with their mother and siblings. In these sheds piglets cannot do these things easily; this often leads to aggression and overeating.

Slaughter
By the age of only 5 months these
piglets are loaded on to trucks and transported to a slaughter house to be turned in to products for human consumption.

In 2005 over 750,000 pigs were slaughtered for their flesh.

At the slaughter house the piglets are unloaded and herded up shoots where they are stunned by a captive bolt pistol. Pigs have very thick skulls and this stunning does not always work.

Pigs are hoisted up by one leg on a conveyor belt. They then have their throats slit; some pigs will be fully conscious through this whole process.

The pigs then get submerged in a bath of boiling hot water to remove any hairs. Again studies have shown that some pigs will be fully conscious as they are scolded alive.

Pigs are not the only animal treated like this in New Zealand. Battery Hens, broiler hens, turkeys and ducks are all kept in similar conditions on factory farms where they too are treated like profit rather than living, breathing individuals who are capable of feeling pain, happiness and forming long lasting bonds with other animals.