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:

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.

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.

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 .

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 .

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.

Clearly, Canadian livestock industries are not serious about improving the living conditions of 650 million animals raised for food each year in Canada. They should therefore not be surprised if one day consumers force their hand.

Stephanie Brown and John Youngman are founding members of the Canadian Coalition for Farm Animals.