Huge Pig Farm development in Derbyshire - when I say huge I mean mahoosive.....

[zazen999]

Absolutely. And you can see the lovely Dominic West discussing the issue...

[BarleySugar]

Signed, and the link sent to a number of people who I think will sign as well.

[mothhawk]

Signed.

I hate battery farming

[Nicos]

Utterly appalling- signed
Thanks Zaz for making us aware....shame on them.

[solway cropper]

The reason these proposals regularly surface is that people want cheap food. They are not going to get that from the nice friendly organic farmer with his little red tractor. Signing petitions might make us feel better but it is ultimately pointless. I might be in a minority here but unless something drastic is done to curb the human population of the planet this intensive pig farm will seem like a model of compassion in farming!!

[SarzWix]

Signed this, and the Soil Association's campaign too.

[Two_Sheds]

The reason these proposals regularly surface is that people want cheap food.

No, British people aren't starving, they don't need cheap meat: they could eat (like we do) lentils & pulses, they could use cheaper cuts of meat & learn how to use the whole animal (for soups, casseroles etc). They could have meat-free days.

Free range British pork isn't expensive, although it's dearer than Danish - it's cheaper than chicken for instance.

Most people in the UK do shop by price; they're either ignorant about animal welfare or they don't care - they'd rather eat crap food so long as they can afford fags & scratchcards. You can't just give the people "the choice"; if you did nobody would pay tax for example. Therefore society should perhaps decide what is acceptable, and ban battery pork.

[Paul Sill]

UK pork imports
This link gives the monthly total of pork imported in to the uk, what the SA are saying about smaller producers being put out of business is wrong, it will help reduce imports of pork which even though its a large scale unit the welfare standards are alot higher than europe. Which for example still use sow stalls which have been banned in the UK for over 10 years (same with veal crates but thats another issue all together).

Even CIWF say the welfare of the proposed units is high. CIWF gives pig

Dont get me wrong I buy free range pork from my local butcher, but there is a demand for cheap meat.

[valmarg]

No, Free range British pork isn't expensive, although it's dearer than Danish - it's cheaper than chicken for instance.

I refuse to buy Danish or Dutch pork products simply because their processes incorporate more water into their products. I object to paying a large percentage of a meat product for water.

valmarg

[baldrick]

I hate loathe and detest factory farming. Sow stalls (now banned here) and chicken batteries (soon to be banned) are a vile insult to the sanctity of life BUT.........Unless you ban IMPORTS of these products as well as production there is a danger of "fluffy bunny" politics resulting in even worse cruelties. Ok they are not in our backyard but they will happen. Lots of british pork farmers went out of business when welfare regs were tightened. People didnt buy less pork though. The same will happen with battery hens. Chicken farmers will be unable to compete with cheap imports and some will almost certainly go bust. Egg buying will not decrease though. I understand people as far away as China have asked about buying second hand kit. Its a horrible dilemma, but do we want mass produced cruelly treated regulated meat on sale here or mass produced cruelly treated unregulated meat? Im not sure what the answer is, but I know it lies in imports and attitudes not just stopping something happening locally.One of the main reasons I stopped being veggie (apart from the smell of a bacon butty!) was that it suddenly occurred to me one day that the only way to encourage welfare meat and eggs over factory is to buy it instead, or accept that if everyone who loves and respects other life forms is veggie the only people buying meat will be those who dont give a damn. Difficult difficult. Ill grab a tin hat now shall I??

[Polly Fouracre]

Have signed, hope it will do some good. We do eat meat but, apart from beef, which we source carefully, we grow our own. Pork, lamb and poultry. It tastes better and we can eat it with an easy concience. We supply family, friends and neighbours at the cost of rearing etc.
Though,as Balrick says, people will close their minds to what goes on in factory farming as long as they can have a cheap bacon sandwich.

[taff]

I refuse to buy Danish or Dutch pork products simply because their processes incorporate more water into their products. I object to paying a large percentage of a meat product for water.

valmarg

me too, but more because their pgs are kept in awful conditions.


They recently tried to open one in Wales but it was pulled because of the amount of people who were outraged, and signed petitions etc.

[valmarg]

me too, but more because their pgs are kept in awful conditions.
.

Sorry taff, yes the conditions under which the animals are kept is more important. In the UK I believe (and hope) that the animals are reared and kept in humane conditions. On the continent they are kept in dreadful conditions.

valmarg

[Hilary B]

Intensive pig farms are nothing new, there ARE rules that ARE (for the most part) adhered to, although it still falls well short of ideal (comparable to the rules on commercial 'free range' chooks, much better than a lot of the alternatives, but still not great).
The things pigs need that they tend not to get in intensive conditions are
1) social contact (the cottager's pig got human contact, being in a concrete-floored pen with 20 others is NOT social contact)
2) mental stimulation
3) a comfortable place to lie down.

3)

[Polly Fouracre]

Hilary B, I would go further than that and say they need an outside area to snout around in, a wallow full of water on a hot day as this is the only way for them to keep cool and a straw filled sty with piggy company to snuggle up with at night.