Most pigs are raised in small pens on slatted metal or concrete floors in buildings with a manure pit below. Pregnant sows are raised in gestation crates. These crates are actually small, individual stalls on slatted floors which severely restrict freedom of movement, including turning sideways or lying down comfortably. When giving birth, the sows are moved to farrowing crates which have side areas for the piglets. Out of frustration and boredom, they often bite at the bars that confine them. Piglets are weaned from their mothers after only two or three weeks. FACT considers these conditions very inhumane for the intelligent and social pig. There is inadequate opportunity for exercise, conditions are unsanitary, with hogs and sows often caked in their own feces, and the air is heavily fouled with the fumes from manure pits which lie beneath the slatted floors.

• Swine should not be confined in gestation or farrowing crates but rather raised in conditions that allow them to have freedom of movement and the ability to engage in natural behaviors, such as wallowing in mud, rooting, foraging, and nesting.
• Swine should also be allowed to express their desire for social interaction. For example, pregnant sows should be kept in groups to allow for socialization and piglets should be kept with their farrowing mates.
• Piglets should be weaned only when their digestive system is capable of handling solid diets and when they are healthy enough to transition to solid food without the use of antibiotics, with a preference for longer weaning time frames.
• Ideally the animals should be given continuous access to the outdoors, with preference given to entirely pasture-based systems.
• Pigs should not undergo tail docking or other forms of physical mutilation, such as nose rings and tusk removal.

What You Should Look For

Look for pork that is labeled as "free range," "pasture-raised" or "raised in deep-bedded housing." These systems allow for freedom of movement and the expression of natural behaviors, especially important in reducing overall stress. Humanely raised pork is often also labeled as "raised without antibiotics." The use of hormones in pork production is prohibited by law, so a label that reads "raised without hormones" is misleading.