More than nine million pigs were killed for meat in the UK in 2009.¹   

Most pigs in the EU are raised in intensive farming systems.²   The majority are kept in appalling conditions: overcrowded, filthy sheds with bare concrete or slatted floors, and barren environments in which  they are unable to carry out basic natural behaviours.³   Although pig welfare in the UK is reported to be not quite as bad as in many other countries, it is estimated that around 40-50% of British pigsare kept in barren environments with no enrichment.⁴

More than 60% of UK sows give birth in farrowing crates.⁵  The sow is put in the crate a week before she is due to give birth and kept inside it until her piglets are weaned.  The crate prevents her from moving other than to stand up and lie down.  She is unable to carry out nest-building or fulfil her instinctive maternal behaviour towards her piglets.⁶

Of the remainder who farrow outdoors, most of their piglets will be transferred indoors by four weeks of age. Only 5% of pigs are reared outdoors and just 1% spend their entire lives outdoors.⁷

In many countries, sows are kept in sow stalls for the entire duration of their 16.5-week pregnancies – metal cages so narrow that the sow cannot even turn round.  Sow stalls have already been banned in the UK and Sweden and an EU ban is due to come into force in 2013.  However, even after the ban farmers will be permitted to keep sows in sow stalls for the first four weeks of their pregnancies.³

The sow will be inseminated again within five to ten days of her piglets being weaned, to repeat the cycle approximately every 140 days.⁶  This continues until her ‘productivity’ declines, when she will be killed.  For most sows this will be some time between their second and eighth litters.⁶

Piglets are usually weaned at four weeks of age, much earlier than their natural weaning age of 16 weeks.⁶  They commonly suffer from digestive disorders resulting from the sudden removal of their mothers’ milk, since they are too young to digest other foods properly.  This is ‘managed’ by routine use of antibiotics.⁶  Early weaning is not carried out for the benefit of the sow or piglets, but to allow the sow to be made pregnant again as soon as possible.⁸

Piglets are subjected to various painful procedures including tail docking, teeth clipping and castration, usually without anaesthetic. 

Tail docking, where a portion of the piglet’s tail is cut off, is carried out to reduce injuries from pigs biting each other’s tails.  This behaviour is often caused by frustration and boredom at their poor living conditions, particularly lack of straw.⁶  80% of UK pigs⁴ and 90-95% of pigs in the EU as a whole are tail docked even though routine tail docking is illegal in the EU.⁹ 

Routine teeth clipping is also banned in the EU,¹⁰ yet around 57% of pigs in the UK have their teeth clipped.¹¹   It is deemed ‘necessary’ by some because sows have been bred to produce much larger litters than they naturally would, resulting in the piglets having to fight one another to reach their mother’s teats, which risks injury to the sow.⁸

Although castration is uncommon in the UK, overall in the EU 77% of male piglets are castrated without anaesthetic.¹²

Leg disorders are a major problem in farmed pigs, caused by genetic selection and being fed high energy and high protein diets.²

Pigs bred for meat are normally killed at 4-6 months of age.⁶ Most pigs are stunned with electrical tongs, usually in a group pen where still-conscious pigs can see the others being stunned, then hoisted up by one leg and bled to death.¹³  Stunning is not always effective due the tongs not being positioned accurately.¹³  Approximately one third of pigs are killed by gassing, which has been shown to cause significant distress to the pigs in the moments before death.¹³