Better conditions for pigs about to become reality.

[MoonRiver]

They will be able to turn around in their stalls! Seems like such a minor development, but when one considers that industry standards trapped these poor beings in tiny cages, which they could not turn around in, even when nursing piglets, it is a major step toward more humane farming conditions.

The world’s largest pork producer, Smithfield Foods Inc. issued a recommendation this week asking all of its contract hog producers to convert their operations from gestation crates—which prohibit a mother sow from turning around—to group housing stalls, which are considered more humane.

The request is voluntary, but Smithfield has put incentives in place to encourage producers to make the change.

http://www.takepart.com/article/2014/01/09/beginning-end-gestation-crates?cmpid=tpfood-eml-2014-01-11-Cheerios

[Warpy]

1. It's a start

Pigs are intelligent, social animals and that needs to be recognized.

I'd like to see all inhumane practices by factory farmers ended. Yes, we are eventually going to kill and eat these animals. Forcing them to live hellish lives until slaughter is an evil system. We can do better than that. We need to do better than that.

Pigs need companionship and room in which to move around. Laying hens need room to move around and the ability to scratch outside daily. Chickens destined to be broilers need to see the sky and eat a few grubs scratched out of the ground, uncrowded so that debeaking isn't necessary. Grass fed beef isn't fork tender unless it's pressure cooked or slowly braised, but it's a lot more healthful than feed lot beef that stands knee deep in its own waste, overcrowded and force fed grain, an unnatural food for them.

PETA has brought a lot of the horrors of factory farming to light. Love them or hate them, they are forcing meat companies to begin to make some necessary changes in how meat animals are treated.

[dhill926]

3. + a bunch........

well said.

[MoonRiver]

4. Completely agree.

I don't eat meat at all, and wish that would become the norm, but of course it won't. Well, maybe if human produced meat becomes a viable option, but that is a long way down the road.

[Warpy]

5. I was vegan for years

until I ran out of cooking time. Now I eat meat but only grass fed beef (rarely) or organically raised poultry (a little more often). The high price of meat raised this way keeps my consumption reasonably low.

A lot of people really feel awful if they try to go all veg. I feel awful if I eat a lot of meat. Both types need to be respected and neither needs a nanny.

[MoonRiver]

6. I am literally nauseous at the thought of eating meat.

I do still eat organic cheese, my addiction, but no milk.

[JJChambers]

7. Pork

Any pork I prepare at home is pork that I have hunted and butchered myself. Feral hogs are quite the nuisance here and an ever growing problem. They're fascinating creatures and I've learned quite a bit about them by hunting them and exterminating them when their populations grow to destructive levels.

If more people would hunt feral hogs and process their kills, there wouldn't be such a demand for these mass produced pigs grown in despicable conditions.

[Warpy]

9. I've heard that feral hogs are a big problem in some parts of the country

and hunters who go after them are doing a good service for the community. Feral hogs are big, smart, mean, and destructive.

Plus, they're invasive.

They're not as disease free as factory farmed pigs, so thorough cooking is vital.

I won't eat factory farmed pig. I might feel differently about feral pig.

[Matariki]

8. yes. great post

[Beringia]

2. Claymation on gestation crate by 13 year old

Also Smithfield was bought by China in Sep 2013.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024293275

[napkinz]

10. I'd like to recommend the following thread started by JanMichael

Just SEE them, and just read the link

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024310107

[Warren DeMontague]

11. I never was a big consumer of pork, but I havent touched it at all in decades.

In addition to the other points, about pigs' intelligence, etc... Anyone who has ever driven down the 5 to Los Angeles on a hot afternoon... That's a big reason why.

[napkinz]

12. WARNING: GRAPHIC VIDEO

I couldn't get past the first 15 seconds. How can we be so cruel!

Tyson Foods - Animal abuse

VIDEO at:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10152075598507140

[MoonRiver]

13. I've seen these films.

I turned vegetarian 20 years ago due to information about factory farm cruelty. Bonus is I am thinner and healthier as a result.

[napkinz]

14. Same here

I remember seeing a documentary on television back in the late 1980s and was horrified and sickened. And that was it for me.