Question

Ethical Dilemma For the sake of efficiency and lower costs, Premium Standard Farms of Princeton, Missouri, has turned pig production into a standardized product-focused process. Slaughterhouses have done this for a hundred years—but after the animal was dead. Doing it while the animal is alive is a relatively recent innovation. Here is how it works. Impregnated female sows wait for 40 days in metal stalls so small that they cannot turn around. After an ultrasound test, they wait 67 days in a similar stall until they give birth. Two weeks after delivering 10 or 11 piglets, the sows are moved back to breeding rooms for another cycle. After 3 years, the sows are slaughtered. Animal-welfare advocates say such confinement drives pigs crazy. Premium Standard replies that its hogs are in fact comfortable, arguing that only 1% die before Premium Standard wants them to and that their system helps reduce the cost of pork products. Discuss the productivity and ethical implications of this industry and these two divergent opinions.

Answer 1

Answer: The pig sow stall is an intensive pig farming method and in the recent years such methods for boosting productivity have come under scrutiny by many animal welfare groups. It is true that this method helps the companies like Premium standard to improve and increase their productivity. It may be also true that only 1% of the entire stocks die a premature death because of pig sow stall technique but treating the sows so cruelly while they are alive is totally unethical. There are ample of research available that this method disturbs the natural behavior of the pigs and causes them physical and mental torture. It is scientifically proven that pigs are intelligent and they undergo an immense misery by such practice. It is unethical to torture an animal just for the pleasure of humans. It is inhuman to make an impregnated sow stand in a stall where it cannot even move for 40 days. In the recent years the awareness about the inhuman treatment of animals has increased and many multinational companies like Mc Donald’s have faced the repercussions for such unethical behaviors. Therefore companies like premium have to understand the unethical nature of such practices and create a balance between productivity and ethics. Else they may face negative consequences because of negative public image.