Last month I wrote an article for the March issue of Veterinary Practice News on the HSUS and its resemblance to PeTA (reference my previous post). In it, I urged that vets who would look to the HSUS’s HSVMA as an alternative to the AVMA might do well to consider otherwise. In response, I received numerous emails offering their point of view on what the HSVMA represents.
Among these came one from a swine practitioner who works for a group which provides domestic and international consulting to the pig industry. He agreed with my assessment of the HSUS and worried that the sow confinement issue was misunderstood by the general population. I urged him to impart his wisdom so that we might become educated, enlightened or at least aware of how those in the biz saw the issue.
I asked him what his position as a “pig vet” had led him to believe was best for pigs destined for our food supply—especially when it come to the hot button issue of sow confinement and free range pork. Below are his words, dutifully reprinted, for your consideration. If it helps any, I felt this vet’s words were thoughtful, provocative and honest.
Q. Dr. Matt Ackerman: Thank you for your kind note and point of view as a “pig vet.” I’d love to hear more about your work and about the real issues in your industry you believe are of animal welfare concern. The AVMA has asked me to list the animal welfare imperatives across all industries that vets believe they, as an organization, could better address.
To that end, how could sow confinement be achieved more humanely to address the comfort level of the sows? Is this indeed necessary? Are pigs truly better served with larger spaces? How would you address the penning vs. crating issue? Thinking “outside the box” for a moment, how can the pork industry in the US compete more effectively against global markets given its dwindling size?
I ask these questions not because I haven’t heard several points of view already, but because you seem genuinely interested in imparting this knowledge and a vet’s “direct” point of view on these issues is not one I’ve ever been privy to (my failing).
A. Patty: Thanks for your reply. As you figured out, I am a Swine Consultant. I am in a 3-veterinarian practice in Indiana that works exclusively on pigs. We travel locally about a 3-hour radius getting into IN, IL, OH, KY and Michigan. I also work in Kansas and Colorado. One of my partners spends a week a month in Mississippi and my other partner spends 2 weeks a year in Southeast Asia.
In the US we work with producers that have a combined total of about 100,000 sows which produce about 2 million pigs per year. US production is about 110 million, so we see about 1.5% of US production.
I believe that the issues in our industry of an animal welfare concern are:
1. housing (individual stalls vs. pens).
2. antibiotic use (whether we are allowed to continue to use them at "growth promotent" levels, whether we are allowed to treat current groups based on previous group history, and other restrictions on antibiotic use.
3. Employees - finding enough good quality employees—this is part of the reason I am so passionate about individual stalls—it is a lot easier to feed and care for animals properly if they are individually housed.
4. Keeping [the AVMA] together—I wouldn't vote against something done in small animal that I didn't understand or like if the experts in that area thought it was best for the animals (that is why I sooo liked your article).
You asked if we need sow confinement. When I think of “confinement” I think of indoor housing and yes we absolutely need indoor housing. We raised pigs outdoors on our home farm from 1970 to 1984—talk about inhumane. Mother nature is not very kind—wind, rain, snow, cold, hot (pigs don't do well in the heat—humid or dry). We definitely need buildings and full time indoor temperature controlled environments if we want a safe, quality and wholesome food supply for a global customer. I love it when animal rights folks say they want "free range" chicken or pork or whatever. If living outdoors is such a good idea, why don't more people do it?
If you meant do we need individual stalled animals, then the answer is technically no. We can raise them in pens. It is cheaper for us to put them in pens. It is not as “animal welfare friendly” to have them in pens. What people forget is that they are animals. They fight. They exert dominance and establish a pecking order. When they are feed, boss sow gets the most and someone gets the least. They bite each other’s ears, tails, vulvas and sides. The average sow weights 450 pounds and can do some damage. Yes, they are domesticated, but they are still animals.
I also find the “organic” movement interesting. Farms that couldn't get certified to sell grade-A milk can now sell organic milk as long as they compile with feeding only organic feed stuffs. It's all about marketing!
An individual stall provides 4 of the 5 Freedoms:
1. Freedom from Hunger and Thirst—by ready access to fresh water and a diet to maintain full health and vigour.
2. Freedom from Discomfort—by providing an appropriate environment including shelter and a comfortable resting area.
3. Freedom from Pain, Injury or Disease—by prevention or rapid diagnosis and treatment.
4. Freedom to Express Normal Behaviour—by providing sufficient space, proper facilities and company of the animal’s own kind.
5. Freedom from Fear and Distress - by ensuring conditions and treatment which avoid mental suffering.
Number 4 is the only one that is debatable, but I would argue that a pen environment doesn't adequately provide for 2 & 5.
I find it interesting that small animal vets and kennels keep the cats and dogs individually housed. Equine vets keep their animals individually housed. I know that people don't like it that the pig can't turn around, but when we tried making "turn around crates" it was harder to keep the food and water free from urine and fecal contamination and it didn't seem to provide any measurable benefit to the animal.
As I try thinking outside the box, I do have clients experimenting with pens and trying to find the size and number of animals that seems to work best. We are finding that having more in a pen with the same square feet per animal is better. For instance, 10 animals at 20 sq ft per animal is better than 5 animals at 20 sq ft per animal. It seems that [we should] give the weak more room to run. But it still comes back to [this:] if you were in a dorm room, would you rather be in a group pen or individually housed? If you were in a hospital, would you rather have an individual room or a group room? There are a lot of benefits to having your own space.
The senior partner in our practice thinks that I am wasting my time, that people have already made up their minds. When they see PeTA's picture of the one large sow in an individual stall, it is hard to fight the issue. But the reality is [that] good producers don't let their animals get as obese as that and [that] the animals do very well in a well managed farm.
I appreciate your interest and applaud your desire to become more knowledgeable on this subject. I welcome your ideas on how we as an industry could do better at taking care of the animals and reach out to our non-agriculture friends.
So…what do you guys think of this?
Dolittler
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I agree that there is no way to produce pigs at the rate we do today with the methods used 20 years ago... but does that mean we should abandon yesterday's methods or abandon an unsustainable rate of production?
My swine medicine course started with a lecture about how pigs are in the top 10 most intelligent animals, but ended the course with a discussion that science hasn't been able to measure appreciable differences in things like serum cortisol levels between pigs that are kept in individual stalls versus pigs kept in pens. But just look at their behavior- stereotypies like bar biting are not normal, and for some reason no one seems to consider environmental enrichment for pigs like we do for zoo animals or dogs or cats. If you put 10 dogs in a 20 square foot pen, they'd bite each other too. Does that mean they aren't social animals? Does that mean they don't have an evolutionarily-ingrained desire to interact with other dogs? No... it means you haven't provided the right conditions for them to interact safely. I say let pigs socialize in a decent amount of space, and give them something to occupy their minds all day. Toys, bedding to root around in, anything, and see how the pigs react. It's worth a try, right?
Dr. Temple Grandin also makes the excellent point that, since the advent of sow stalls, pigs haven't been selected based on temperament towards other pigs. If we want a return to sow stalls, we have to make behavior a priority when selecting breeding stock, and cull the aggressive pigs heavily until we get back to pigs that can interact safely.
I went to a great talk by Dr. Bernie Rollin a few weeks ago, and I think he summed up the scenario best. The social ethic is shifting, and farming practices that were once acceptable (or unknown) aren't anymore. Society doesn't want to see factory farming, downer cows getting shocked, foie gras being force fed, etc. Society wants to see animals treated like animals, not machines, and that means a shift away from industrialized farming back to farming based on appropriate husbandry. Because some serious change needs to happen to bring farming into accordance with the changing social ethic, some leader will emerge to make that happen. Do we want that leader to be AVMA, or PETA?
Vets can choose to abandon AVMA for AHVMA, or fight AVMA to pay attention to what the public is asking for. I'd rather fight to get the AVMA to pay attention to me than join forces with animal rights groups. If pig farmers (or pig vets) think society should suck it up and understand why sow stalls are okay, they need to do more than issue position statements. Personally, I think the swine industry needs to listen to public concerns and understand that it isn't just about demonstrating that swine in stalls have higher cortisol levels than swine in pens. It's about asking ourselves if keeping an intelligent animal in a tiny stall is ethically defensible, or whether we owe these animals more in exchange for providing us with meat. Sure we CAN keep sows in stalls, and keep them (physically) healthy... but SHOULD we?
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Megan March 7th, 2008 10:31:00 PM
I appreciate reading Dr. Ackerman's comments, and often we humans tend to forget that animals have animal behavior/instincts. Many folks feel it is cruel to "crate-train" a dog, and indeed it would be, if done improperly. There was a time I would never have considered it. With a multiple canine household (and a couple of cats), one starts to see the "pack mentality". Feeding individually in crates assures all of their portion, protects them from harm (if you are not home), and provides a safe haven for them to use at will.
It is notable from reading Dr. Ackerman's post, that animal welfare is very much his consideration, along with providing a sanitary environment and safe food supply.
Barbara A. Albright March 7th, 2008 11:03:00 PM
The good doctor is claiming animals can either be kept in warehouse, factory conditions, produced like widgets, or kept in some sort of hillbilly chaos.
His claim that animals who are not warehoused are kept outside 100% of the time is flat wrong. His family may have abused animals that way, but for him to imply that "free range" means never seeing the inside of a barn is completely dishonest or ignorant. I am sure there are bad farmers in both camps, but to say those are the only options is a lie.
His most telling comment may be this: " I know that people don't like it that the pig can't turn around, but when we tried making "turn around crates" it was harder to keep the food and water free from urine and fecal contamination and it didn't seem to provide any measurable benefit to the animal."
Yes, allowing animals to live may take some time and money. That is why factory farmers are so opposed to it.
The bottom line is, both PETA and the various state Farm Bureaus are, in my mind, similarly greedy and corrupt. A person doesn't have to belong to one or the other, again, he is presenting a false choice.
For anyone interested in reading how responsible family farms operate, check out this link. Click on a dot on the map to read a brief story on how that particular family farm operates. http://www.iowacci.org/Issues/farming/Food/food_pr...
Beyond animal welfare, factory farms pollute the air and water. Some farms produce more waste than cities. Iowa has some of the dirtiest air and water in the country as a direct result.
I am not a farmer so can not speak directly on all these issues, but as a citizen at least I am somewhat aware. The doctor should be honest and stop trying to delude himself. He is enabling and miseducating people with his comments.
Erich Riesenberg March 8th, 2008 06:46:00 AM
Agreed, Erich. There is a huge jump from the dog kept in a crate or the horse kept in a stall to the pig kept in a sow stall. The dog and horse aren't expected to live their entire lived in their boxes, nor are they expected to live in boxes so small they can't turn around.
The doctor misses the point when he tries to argue that sow stall= dog crate= horse stall. It isn't the confinement part that people don't like, it's the lifetime of confinement in a box so small they can't turn around. I'd call that cruelty with a dog or horse or pig. Animals aren't meant to stand still all day.
Megan March 8th, 2008 09:19:00 AM
Well-put Erich. It a false choice Dr. Ackerman presents. (Loved the "hillbilly chaos" remark!) Pets may be "individually confined" for periods of time, for behavior management or medical care, but they're not spending their entire lives on a concrete floor unable to turn around. The good doctor may fool himself, but he ain't fooling me.
Neither I nor my carnivorous pets are going to do without meat. Heck, I always bring back 100 pounds of meat from my friend's small cattle ranch when I visit her in Texas -- because I've seen for myself her stewardship both of the animals and the land. I'm a circle of life person, and I have no problem with the idea that something dies so that other somethings may life. As a compassionate, thinking "something," however, I don't see a need for the animal who dies to live a life of suffering in addition to dying so that I may eat.
I do not support PETA in any way. My view of the HSUS is a lot more nuanced. No matter: I will not support factory farming, and this man's "explanation" reinforces this vow even more. Honestly, I have a hard time thinking of him as a veterinarian, not as a technician keeping the meat machines running.
I have long wondered if the shortage of large animal veterinarians that the AVMA is now casting in crisis terms has a lot to do with the fact that people who go to veterinary school generally do so because they care about animals. Why would anyone who genuinely cares about another living being want to work with factory farms?
I will continue to use as little meat as possible in my own diet (almost always now, I choose a vegan entry when eating out, because I cannot "source" the meat). In these efforts, I am not alone: Supporting humane and environmentally sustainable agricultural practices is important to an increasing number of people -- and retailers and restaurants are reacting, even if the meat industry is largely not (yet).
Gina Spadafori March 8th, 2008 10:12:00 AM
Gina, speaking as a current vet student, I'd say the large animal vet shortage has much less to do with not wanting to work in factory farms than with the horrible pay that production animal vets receive. Our loans have gotten too large to be able to manage with a $30-$40,000 salary (I know I'll be leaving school well over $100,000 in debt, not including undergrad loans, and I'm getting in-state tuition).
My production animal classmates certainly don't aspire to work for large corporations, but those are the places that pay well enough to tempt debt-laden students. People do it either by swallowing their ethics, or by convincing themselves that "industry standard" is ethically justifiable.
It's a little like the small animal vet going to work for Banfield. None of us goes into vet school wanting to go corporate, but the fear of how we'll ever pay off such massive student loans makes some of us forget our aspirations and go where the easy money is. Not trying to justify it, just trying to explain it.
Megan March 8th, 2008 09:30:00 PM
Interesting comments from the doc and from readers.
I think that in order to put a stop to factory farming, social attitudes must change. Why should there be an overabundance of meats available in every store round the clock, year in year out? In many other countries, if you want a chicken, you get to the market early or you are out of luck for that day.
I often wonder what happens to all that meat on display in all those stores. How long is it kept? Where does it go if no one buys it?
I'm not a vegetarian, although I eat a lot of vegetarian meals, especially when dining out. I buy my meat locally and know how it was raised and by whom. I'm no fan of Peta or H$U$ either.
Pigs are lovely animals and they really do deserve a better setup. Why not arrange interior individual stalls and outdoor fenced yards so they can see and communicate with their friends while avoiding their enemies?
Let the lazy be out of luck when they go to buy meat at the store now and then - it would probably do them some good, truth be told.
Caveat March 8th, 2008 11:17:00 PM
I think youve hit the nail on the head, Caveat. We have to stop thinking of meat as a staple. It's a luxury. Period. We don't deserve cheap meat off the backs of ill-treated animals anymore than we deserve cheap clothes made by ill-treated garment workers.
It's true, however, that some factory farming practices have boded well for animals. While I'd agree that the pork industry is not one of them, consider the dairy industry. Large scale factory farms have proven that cows producing milk do so much more efficiently when the cows are comfortable. I've seen the difference in these farms and can't say enough about McArthur Farms, my local dairy behemoth. It beats any of the tiny mom-and-pop farms I toured in Pennsylvania for happy, healthy cowism--by a long shot.
Consequently, I believe in examining the vet viewpoint very closely. What's best for the animals is sometimes what's best for the industry.
In this case, I have to agree that pigs are not adequatly factory farmable in such intensive conditions. But it's also true that the pork industry in the US would collapse if we had our way. Pigs are social animals. They must be granted the ability to express their pig-ism.
On the other hand, I heartily agree with Dr. Ackerman that free-range and organic are labels which do not address our welfarist concerns. In light of this and the above finding, the only solution would be to grow your own or skip pig altogether. If you're not willing to take this step, I believe Dr. Ackerman's sensible consideration of the five freedoms is not unreasonable.
Dr. Patty Khuly March 9th, 2008 09:31:00 AM
Everyone has already said it very well. Pig in box=wrong. On this issue, I have made my choice and do not buy pork for my dogs (nor for myself). I don't expect that pigs raised for consumption are going to have Wilbur type lives but surely we have an obligation to do better than the box.
slt March 9th, 2008 11:01:00 AM
If Dr. Ackerman has a point to make, he should make it instead of making comments like this: "if you were in a dorm room, would you rather be in a group pen or individually housed? If you were in a hospital, would you rather have an individual room or a group room? There are a lot of benefits to having your own space."
He is comparing a private hospital room to a crate in which the animal can't even turn around? Does he honestly believe this is a valid comparison? I think the dishonesty on the part of factory farms is very similar to the kill versus no kill shelter issue.
I had heard so many lies about how family farmers let the animals suffer outside all year long, that I finally asked a farmer if this is true. A good farmer will tell you, the animal has one bad day, when the animal is killed. Personally I am vegetarian, but my dogs eat meat and bones, and I am glad to have a local farmer who can deliver it. Animals have different needs from people, my dogs enjoy being outside even in subzero weather, it is a chore to get them to come in. Pigs are apparently smart, clean animals, and I can't imagine the pain they feel their entire lives in these dirty factories.
This is a huge issue, and I will be glad when some farmers respond. On issues such as commodity subsidies, ethanol and factory farms, I think corporate agriculture is causing a lot of problems. The organic industry may have problems, but I am confident a lot of it is caused by the same corporate interests. These are the interests which do not want responsible meat companies to test all their products for mad cow disesase because it will make the less responsible ones look bad, who do not want dairy farmers to be able to label their products hormone free, who do not want their dog food to be labeled fit for human consumption. These people talk about a free market, but what they really want is government assistance in keeping their control. Honest farmers feel the same frustruation all Americans should face when we look at the handouts corporate interests receive.
Erich Riesenberg March 9th, 2008 12:10:00 PM
I agree with Erich, Gina and Meghan. And I highly doubt that the pigs are "free from fear and distress." PUHLEASE.
I commend to everyone the book "Dominion" by Matthew Scully. He went on a tour of Smithfield production facilities and saw their "widgets" -- I mean, pork, I mean, pigs. It will make you never want to eat Babe again.
It is not the fact that we kill animals for food that is morally wrong. This is the way of nature, and we are omnivores.
It is the WAY we make them live, the WAY we treat them, the WAY we kill them. As though they were not sentient beings deserving of respect, which they are. That is morally wrong.
Stefani March 9th, 2008 07:35:00 PM
Dr. Ackerman's apologia has strengthened my resolve to do with pork what I've already done with beef, lamb, and eggs.
Find a local non-industrial source and pay what it takes.
The claim that animals suffer if they can go outdoors was astonishing. Maybe Dr. Ackerman would be happiest if shut up in a climate controlled house for his entire life. Some of us humans prefer the option of sun, wind, rain, and cold. All of the animals I have ever known, of every species -- including indoor cats -- have agreed. Given the opportunity, they will "free range."
I once assisted in off-loading pigs at a small custom slaughterhouse where I get meat for my dogs and sometimes myself.
The trailer that their owner brought them in was a bit dodgy, and the off-loading was difficult and not as smooth as it should have been. I wasn't entirely happy with the handling -- it could have been better, and this One Bad Day less distressing for the pigs with some more forethought and expertise.
But these pigs had dirt on their noses, had lived on pasture, had good lives that were recognizable as the lives appropriate to pigs, not industrial production units. Their owner was able to describe the temperament of each animal as we herded it into the chutes -- living in a herd, they'd shown their personalities. Maybe it *was* in hillbilly squalor -- but I bet any sow, given the choice, would live one of those lives rather than one where she can't turn around because it's inconvenient for her arse to come near her feed trough.
I'm a great respecter of expertise. But I distrust anyone who is trying to sell me something. Dr. Ackerman seems to have sold himself the conviction that "clean," solitary, invariate, and motionless are the life virtues that are important to livestock. I can understand why, doing what he does, he needs to believe this. I'm not buying.
H Houlahan March 10th, 2008 02:33:00 AM
I don't think the claim that animal suffer when they go outdoors is astonishing. I too have seen outdoor pig facilities and hen facilities where animal suffered extremes of temperature, injury and predation.
I am a strong supporter of animal having tue behavioral freedom including access to the outdoors. however I think people need to understand there is a safety/freedom trade off that happens in general.
I think it is naive thinking (free range is all good, no bad) that makes the industry so nervous of making changes. Very few free range promoters seem to have a firm grasp of why indoor housing and caging started in the first place and what the implications of large sclae roll back would be especially with the leaner and more aggressive pigs we know breed.
I think it is possible, there are farms out there that group house sows with very little fighting, but it will take a lot of effort to adapt these to the scale and type of farms in the US. And so long as there is free trade all that would happen is probably the replacement of domestic pig farming with cheaper imports--and we should perhaps have learnt the perils of that?
emily March 10th, 2008 08:30:00 AM
A lingering image from the 1953 science fiction novel "Space Merchants" is of "Chicken Little" a gigantic, living mass of vat-grown chicken tissue; continuously growing, it is regularly trimmed, the slices then packaged and sold as chicken. That's really what we consumers want, a nice package of meat for dinner; unfortunately our edible muscle tissue still has to be grown with a brain and instincts and individual character and whatnot.
I don't think Americans will pay the extra cost of meat that has had a happy life, except as a luxury good for the wealthy few. So yes, groceries probably will be importing the meat soon from China. That will be interesting.
Hafwyn March 10th, 2008 03:20:00 PM
Hafwyn - Yeah, I totally agree. Most folks either don't have the luxury to grouse about the ethical standards with which their McNuggets were raised, or don't care to know. People love to carp about the deleterious results of corporate farming, while at the same time totally ignoring all of the technological advancements provided by industry which have allowed for us to have the spare time to sit around and pontificate about morally acceptable meat production practices. However, what it's going to come down to for most folks is price point. For those who truly care about the lives of that which they are about to consume, you better be willing to pay for it. There's a reason that Kobe beef costs $200/lb.
Chip March 11th, 2008 12:47:00 PM
For those unfamiliar with the prices of family farm products and might take absurd comments such as Chip's seriously, the meat from my family farmer is $2 - $2.50 per pound, which is the same or less than many types of meat available from my mass grocer. Capitalism can work, it is crony capitalism including taxpayer giveaways that generally corrupt the system.
Erich Riesenberg March 14th, 2008 07:11:00 AM
Take 3 pigs & put them each in a wire cage.
Stack the cages on top of each other.
Feed only the pig on top, the other 2 you won't have to feed.
All will be just fine.
PS How was your ham this Easter?
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