Free Range Pigs - Australia

April 1998
With scrape in sheep, salmonella in chickens and mad cow disease in cattle, what epidemic will strike the pig? None, if we follow the example of Australia's Great Southern Piggery, the world's largest free-range pig farm.

The Great Southern Piggery raises its pigs outside. The 3,000 sows here graze, wallow and furrow in the sunshine - it's pig heaven. In Europe, legislation will soon stop farmers from making animals spend their whole lives inside. Pork production will be drastically changed. More than 10% of Australia's pigs are already raised on the open range. In Europe, that figure is now closer to 20%. Here, each sow produces 20 piglets a year - a better yield than the intensive indoor, battery-style pig farming. Once weaned, piglets spend 7 weeks leaping about on straw, developing weight and fitness. Their fate is nevertheless sealed: they all end up being sent off to market. Pigs living outside are fitter and can give birth unassisted. They also don't get lame from urinating on their own hooves. They're just a bit dirtier! And profits are good. A charming report on an issue which affects all of those who enjoy our bacon.

Produced by ABC Australia
Distributed by Journeyman Pictures

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• Pig
• Farm
• Australia
• Pork
• Animals
• Europe
• wildlife
• news
• documentary
• current affairs
• journeyman
• journeyman pictures

[guyser1975]

Carbon based life forms have been eating carbon based life forms since carbon based life began. Moral arguments about the concept of meat are ridiculous, but moral arguments against the meat industry are not. This farm is an example of the right way to produce meat.

[belixcvet]

I'm a vegetarian but I convinced my mother to buy only free range and organic meat. :3

[EddieCubillo]

@Bird50ify I'm an American and part Russian by the way, but even if I was a "filthy hispanic refugee" I would still have more brains in my left nut than your entire inbred racist family combined.

[EddieCubillo]

@Bird50ify Insult me all you want, it doesnt change anything. I'm almost finished with my Zoology degree, and WILL be in Australia within the next couple years. And I'll preserve the Metatherian race at all costs.

[EddieCubillo]

@Bird50ify I will force the destruction of every non native placental, and promote the preservation and utilization of every native by any means possible. The amount of damage pigs do in Australia is staggering, and the native marsupials are being slaughtered as we speak.  If you really wanted to help, youd get a gun and shoot every mammal that doesnt have a pouch.

[Bird50ify]

@EddieCubillo stfu kid, probably some filthy hispanic refugee

[EddieCubillo]

@Bird50ify At the price of the native Marsupials. In a few years I'll move to Australia and kill ever feral I see, and theres nothing you or any other ignorant person can do to stop me.

[Bird50ify]

@EddieCubillo hey guess what. did you know what the biggest waste of land is. HUMANITY FUCKHEAD. so these pigs deserve more than you cunt. pigs are the most tortured animals on earth regarding the pork and science industry

[EddieCubillo]

Thats a waste of land that native animals could be inhabiting. It makes me sick to see pigs, which are responsible for so much damage to australia, being pampered like this.

[Kirk0481]

There is nothing wrong with buying non free range meat the amount of land it would take to contain all of these animals would be ridicoulus and extremely expensive. Yeah you see videos of animal abuse but does that mean every farm or barn is abusive no. There would not be enough space for all the pigs in the world so fuck peta.

[alexisPaulG]

i cant hear ANYTHING the owner is saying

[mum2damian]

@guyser1975 i will agree. Eating meat is OK as long as it is produced in the right way, like this! We can all make better choices like free range poultry adn meat as well as sustainable fish! =)