7 Insane Things Done to Baby Animals Used for Meat, Dairy & Eggs

Ripping the testicles of male piglets

The USDA Food and Safety Inspection Service does not allow food with a boar taint smell to enter the food supply. Boar taint is associated with the hormones that are naturally produced by intact males. Therefore male piglets in the food industry are always castrated.

100% of all male piglets raised for meat will be castrated in the US food industry. However even in countries where it is not mandatory to do so, piglets will still be castrated without anesthesia to avoid the boar taint smell. And a very common procedure would involve ripping or cutting their testicles without the use of any painkillers or anaesthetics.

Grinding baby chicks and ducklings

In the egg industry, male chicks who are just one day old are thrown into a grinder and macerated alive simply because they are unable to produce eggs. They have been genetically modified to grow a darker shade of yellow and this helps workers identify their sex.

But in the foie gras industry, it is the female ducklings that are thrown into an electric mincer alive just days after they are born. Only male ducks are kept and raised as they gain weight much faster compared to the females.

However, grinding baby birds alive is not exclusive to the industries of foie gras and eggs. The same violent death awaits weak, sick or deformed chicks and baby turkeys who are bred for meat.

Burning off the beaks of baby birds

The process of burning off the beaks of baby birds such as turkeys in the meat industry and chicks in the egg industry is known as debeaking. This process, like all other mutilations done to animals in such industries, is done without any painkillers or anaesthetics. The beak will most commonly be shortened permanently, though sometimes regrowth may occur.

Birds in both the egg and meat industry will be forced to live in sheds with thousand others of their own kind. In such stressful situations, the birds can resort to self-mutilation, cannibalism, bullying and pecking. Therefore, the birds will have their beaks burned off to decrease the number of injuries.

However, this is an extremely cruel process because the tip of a chicken’s beak is much more sensitive than what many are led to believe. They are full of pain receptors, blood vessels and nerve endings. Yet on almost all egg farms, including those labeled “cage-free” and “free range”, this part of their beak is removed and simply discarded.

Kidnapping babies from their mothers

In the dairy industry, it is standard procedure to take the calf – whether male or female – away from their mother shortly after birth so that we, instead of them, can get the milk we want.

In order for cows to produce milk, they need to be pregnant. And just like humans, cows carry their babies for nine months. However, usually within just a few hours of birth, the babies will be snatched away from them. Female calves will be forced to suffer the same fate as their mothers while male calves are killed shortly after, many times to produce veal.

Unfortunately, the dairy industry is not limited to cows. Goats and sheep are forced to go through this traumatic experience as well.

Killing male baby calves with axes to their heads

In the dairy industry, it is not uncommon for some farms to get rid of their wanted male calves since they do not produce milks [much like male chicks in the egg industry] by bashing them in the head with a hammer or an axe. This method is relatively inexpensive compared to shooting the calve in the head since it only requires an axe and a worker who is already getting paid.

Because the calves are taken from their mothers too soon, many don’t develop properly and can get sick easily. Instead of providing them with proper veterinary care, sick or weak female calves who cannot survive until adulthood and start producing milk are also killed using the same method. It can take up to five or six blows until they will be rendered unconscious. They will then be thrown into piles while they are still alive.

Creating orphan baby birds

All birds in the food industry, such as the chicks raised in the egg industry and turkeys and ducks raised in the meat industry, has never seen their mothers, neither have they felt the warmth of a nest. Instead, they are hatched in large incubators and huddled around heat lamps to keep warm.

Incubators can hold up to thousands of eggs and they are hatched in a controlled environment. However, newly hatched chicks, ducklings and turkeys can sometimes be seen calling for their mothers. When we force baby birds to grow up without a mother figure, it can cause them a lot of stress and anxiety.

Chicks rely on their mothers who are supposed to keep them warm and teach them important life skills such as what to eat, how to dust bathe, how to swim safely (for ducklings), and essentially where to walk. Baby birds don’t make their own decisions that this age and they follow their mother everywhere.

Slamming the heads of piglets against concrete

PACing, or thumping, is a term which means “pounding against concrete”. This is a method used by the meat industry to kill piglets.

Sick or non-viable baby piglets will be picked up by their hind legs and then slammed against the floor or concrete. This causes a massive head trauma which can result in death, although it is not always immediate. This leaves them squirming in agony and some even have seizures.