IATP Hog Report - Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy

Section 6
sow and pigs live above the pit on perforated floors. Piglets are taken from
the sows when they are, on average, between 10 to 15 days of age; but
often weaning age can range anywhere from five to 20 days of age. After
weaning, the sows are moved back for rebreeding to the cage they lived in
during their pregnancy.
In intensive confinement, sows paw and root at the bottom of their crates
before farrowing, but their desire to search out a suitable nest site and
build a secure nest in which to give birth is thwarted.
The legs of breeding sows on factory farms become weak from disuse.
Over time, crated or tethered sows lose both bone mass and muscle. 42
They often require assistance at birth. Laxatives are added to protein-rich
diets to compensate for lack of fiber and exercise. 43 Sows may collapse in
their crates and never be able to regain their feet. In this case, employees
may have to drag the sows from their stalls to dispatch them a painful and
terrifying process for the sows and a frustrating one for the employees. As
revealed in the undercover PETA video, where a downed sow is
repeatedly stomped, kicked, and jeered at, the animal is irrationally
punished and ridiculed for being in a condition induced by human
engineering.
Sows confined to crates or tether stalls may exhibit redirected or repetitive
behaviors known as "stereotypies." Stereotypies are behaviors that may
have had roots in a real situation (for example, biting the bars of the crate
while waiting for food) but now are disconnected from reality. They have
been described as similar to the repetitive, meaningless behaviors of
people with psychiatric disorders, such as continuous handwringing. 44
Endorphin release has been found to accompany stereotypies performed
by sows that have been continuously tethered or tied to stalls, implying
that the sow has been unable to cope by her own volition and internal
mechanisms have taken over. 45 At some time in the long confinement,
mourning behaviors and a condition known as "learned helplessness" may
result.
Sows are kept in constant, often accelerated production. One technique
used to shorten the time to rebreeding is to inject the sow with a hormone
to bring on estrus soon after she gives birth. The sow then cycles again
three weeks later and is rebred. Genetically selected for leanness, breeding
sows may have few bodily resources to fall back on. Sows are not
machines. Lean sows, especially, are not built for the pressure of
production systems in which they are pushed through the breedinggestation-farrowing-nursing-weaning-rebreeding
cycle at top speed.
http://www.iatp.org/hogreport/sec6.html (9 of 30)2/27/2006 3:50:16 AM