Why do farmers kill piglets?

Pig slaughter is an activity performed to obtain pig meat (pork). Generally they can be divided into piglets, which are 1.5 to 3 months old; the fattening pigs, intended for pork and bacon, which are 4 months to one year old; and finally the older pigs, such as sows (female pigs) and boars (uncastrated male pigs).

Why are farmers destroying pigs?

A Yorkshire farmer has killed hundreds of piglets because labour shortages in local abattoirs mean adult pigs are not being killed fast enough. The resulting backlog means there is less space left on farms for younger pigs, which are cheaper and easier to kill.

Do piglets get slaughtered?

Pigs are either electrically stunned before having their throat cut, or gassed to death by carbon dioxide. Pigs are slaughtered after four to seven months. Sows produce around four to seven litters before they become exhausted and are slaughtered at three-to-five years.

What happens to piglets on factory farms?

Factory-farmed pigs are slaughtered typically between six and ten months, depending on what the flesh will be used for (bacon, sausages, pork, etc.). Slaughtered pigs are stunned by an electrical gun or other devise prior to having their throats slit.

Why are pigs not being slaughtered?

The industry has said pigs will have to be killed and incinerated by farmers because of a shortage of abattoir and butchery workers, which is causing a huge backlog of healthy pigs being held back on farms, unable to be sent to abattoirs, and getting too big to be housed.

Is pig farming cruel?

Condemned to a life of misery and squalor, such activities are impossible for factory farmed pigs. The sows are put into ‘farrowing crates’ – one of the most barbaric tools of the factory farming industry – about a week before they give birth and are kept there for about a month afterwards.

Why are we killing pigs?