Animal Rights

Currently there is a big debate with McDonald’s and pork producers. The entire debate is on whether or not sows should be put in farrowing crates or if they should be put in a pasture to roam. In the eyes of a consumer, they would believe that the pasture is better for them. Unfortunately that is not always the correct answer. Now for other animals like horses or dairy cattle, a little pasture time will not hurt them. On the other hand though, by putting sows in pastures instead of farrowing crates, you open an entire book of problems. First of all there is the dominance factor. There will be that one sow that wants control of the entire group and wants to be at the food first and so on. That sow will actually bite at the other sow on her sides and at her external reproductive organs. That then causes possible infections if not treated immediately.  Nesting is another factor. When a sow builds her nest she makes it so that the piglets cannot get out of the nest. That then can cause a piglet to get trapped under the mom and her unknowingly suffocate her piglet to death. With the farrowing crates we are just controlling the environment and giving the piglets a chance to survive. Yes the crates can be a little uncomfortable, but she is only in them for a short amount of time. After the piglets are old enough they can be moved into more suitable areas to keep them in the same size pig groups and give them enough food and water. The pigs are not miss treated and are fed and watered daily. When people make judgments about the treatment of animals, they really need to keep an open mind and actually go to a place that practices the activity. These actions are normally made for the benefit of the animal, not just the producer. The happier and healthier the animal, the better off the producer and consumer are. Animal welfare is a major topic that has many controversies, but a judgment or opinion should only be made about this topic once research is done and you have the facts. Hasty decisions and opinions can have very harmful effects on both the consumer and producer. So I guess we will just have to wait out this debate with McDonald’s and see what the outcome is.