No Cages on RSPCA Assured Farms: Better Lives for Animals

What are Farrowing Crates?

Farrowing crates are metal cages where pregnant pigs are kept in the weeks before and after they give birth to their piglets. Whilst inside the crates, the sows can stand up and lie down but can’t turn around.

If you’ve never heard of farrowing crates, you’re not alone. Until I started working for RSPCA Assured I knew nothing about them, but one of the first things I learned was that they can never be used on our members’ farms.

Pigs Need To Forage And Root

All RSPCA Assured member farms need to meet the RSPCA welfare standards which state that sows must be given enough room to turn around freely at all times.

They must also be given bedding such as straw to provide comfort and allow them to build nests.

The RSPCA’s pig welfare experts say this is very important as pigs are highly intelligent and sociable: they need space to move, stay active and express their natural behaviours, such as:

foraging and rooting
social contact and touch (a recent study** showed pigs spend around 40% of their time touching and making body contact)
playing and exploring environment enrichment items such as straw
staying clean - if given the choice, pigs refuse to soil areas where they sleep or eat.

Hens Want To Run, Jump And Scratch

Many of us buy free-range or barn eggs, but around 23% of hens*** still live in what are known as ‘colony’ or ‘enriched’ cages.

Each of these cages houses approximately 90 hens and provides a space equivalent to a single sheet of A4 paper for each bird to move around in.

Just like pigs, the RSPCA’s welfare standards don’t allow hens to be kept in cages.

Instead, they live in free-range or organic systems, or large barns where they have plenty of space to roam around.

This is important as hens are intelligent and naturally inquisitive. They need to be active and perform natural behaviours that help them stay fit and healthy, both mentally and physically such as:

walking - hens can run, jump and play
nesting and perching - perches can reduce stress and help hens to feel safe
stretching their wings and dustbathing (which is essential for cleaning their feathers)
scratching the ground and foraging
exploring enrichment items such as pecking objects and destructible items like straw bales.

How You Can Help

So if you eat meat, fish, eggs or dairy products and would like to help ensure farm animals live better lives, my advice is to look out for RSPCA Assured-labelled products when you’re shopping.

You can also take action by lobbying your supermarket to only sell higher welfare produce - and visit the RSPCA’s website to find out more about their ‘End the Cage Age’ campaign.

*AHDB statistics 2020
**Cross-seasonal and diurnal variation in physical contact between sub-adult pigs, Piero Seddaiu, Simon P. Turner, Irene Camerlink
***DEFRA statistics 2023

02 Sep 2024