The problem with lower-welfare farming
The scale of suffering on lower-welfare farms is the single biggest animal welfare issue we face.
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Lower-welfare farming is widespread, causing suffering for millions of animals
The vast majority of farmed animals – more than 70% – are raised on lower-welfare farms. Every year, millions of animals are kept in cages, or crammed into overcrowded sheds, with barely room to move freely or carry out a full range of natural behaviours they enjoy. They can be deprived of sunlight and comfortable bedding to sleep on. Many suffer painful health problems from being bred to grow unnaturally fast and abnormally large.
Global consumption of meat is predicted to rise by 70% by 2050. In the UK, 71% of our land is already used for agriculture – a major driver of greenhouse gas emissions and nature loss. If we continue to eat animal products at our current rate, we simply won’t have the space, and will likely have to resort to even more intensive, lower-welfare methods to meet demand.
Society must work together to significantly reduce the amount of animal products we consume and for all remaining animals to be farmed to higher-welfare standards. Shoppers, supermarkets, food businesses, governments and farmers all have a part to play in improving farmed animals’ lives.
As long as demand for animal products remains high, production will continue to focus on maximising output at the expense of the welfare of the animals we choose to eat.
Choosing better farmed animal products through RSPCA Assured
Choosing RSPCA Assured labelled meat, fish, eggs and dairy in the supermarket is an easy swap from lower-welfare farmed animal products, and can help give millions of farmed animals better lives.
The welfare problems associated with each farmed animal
Meat chickens
Fast growth rate
90% of the chickens we eat are fast-growing breeds, selected to grow so fast that they can struggle to walk or be left sitting in their own excrement. The time from hatching to slaughter is around just five weeks. This fast growth rate is linked to severe health problems, such as lameness and heart defects. It also makes it harder for them to do the activities they enjoy, like perching and dust-bathing. The 2020 RSPCA-commissioned study Eat, Sit, Suffer, Repeat concluded that many of these birds don’t have a life worth living.
Solution
RSPCA pioneered slower-growing, higher-welfare breeds through its welfare standards. RSPCA Assured never permits fast-growing chicken breeds on member farms. We at the RSPCA want all chickens in the UK to be slower-growing, higher-welfare breeds and have been calling for retailers and food businesses to sign up to the Better Chicken Commitment as a first step towards better chicken welfare.
CRAMPED SPACE
Many meat chickens, known as broilers, are kept in overcrowded conditions, with little space to move around. Many chickens are kept in conditions where 19 2kg birds share each square metre of space. Overcrowding impacts their wellbeing, as they struggle to exercise or do the natural behaviours that give their lives meaning, like forage and dust bathe. It reduces the ability to maintain good quality air and litter and leaves birds more prone to problems like lameness and skin disease.
Solution
RSPCA farmed animal welfare standards ensure that birds can exercise, flap their wings and have the space to behave naturally. RSPCA Assured birds follow more than 830 welfare standards to give them a better life. We need to reduce the amount of meat we eat to provide animals with the space they need, while driving up welfare standards on all farms.
ENRICHMENT
Most chickens aren’t given the right enrichment activities to keep them stimulated, active and healthy. They love to perch and forage and need perches, straw bales and objects to peck at so they can carry out their natural behaviours.
Solution
RSPCA Assured ensures that chickens have the right items, like perches and things to peck, like hanging wooden blocks and straw bales. We want this to be standard across the industry.
Light
Chickens mainly experience their world through sight and have well-developed colour vision designed for brightly-lit conditions like daylight. Sadly, by law, chickens only have to be given artificial light of 20 lux brightness. By comparison, a brightly lit room is 400 lux and natural daylight between 30-100,000 lux, so many birds are missing out on being able to fully experience the world around them.
Solution
Under RSPCA Assured, all sheds must have windows, which give access to natural daylight during the day, followed by six continuous hours of darkness at night so chickens can rest.
Laying Hens
Cages
Although barren battery cages have been illegal in the UK since 2012, many people don’t realise that it's still legal to keep hens in cages. In ‘enriched’ cages, many hens have little more usable space than an A4 sheet of paper. They can’t move around freely and exercise or carry out the behaviours they enjoy, like dustbathing and foraging, leading to frustration and suffering.
Solution
We want an end to the use of cages in UK farming. The government launched a consultation to end the use of cages in 2026 and we, along with many animal lovers in the UK, submitted our responses. We now hope this will lead to an end to cages in farming. People can also look for the RSPCA Assured label as this means no cages are used.
Feather pecking and beak trimming
Feather pecking is when hens peck and pull at the feathers of others, leading to serious injuries or even cannibalism. The causes vary, but it can be a result of poor environment, their breed, nutrition, changes in food or environment or poor health and disease. Currently, beak trimming is used to prevent feather pecking, but we want to find alternatives.
Solution
Sadly, the solution to beak trimming is not simple. We are working with the industry to find an alternative way to manage feather pecking, looking at rearing, breeding and research. We need to phase out the use of beak trimming at the earliest possible opportunity.
Dairy cows
LAMENESS
It's estimated that between one quarter and one third of UK dairy cows are lame, meaning they can’t walk very well. Lameness is painful and regarded as one of the most urgent issues affecting dairy cows. There is no legal requirement to provide veterinary health plans.
Solution
Under RSPCA farmed animal welfare standards, farmers must take steps to prevent lameness and other health issues and have a veterinary health plan in place to ensure swift treatment if cows become ill. We want all cows to get the same care.
MASTITIS
Mastitis is a disease in which the cow’s udder becomes inflamed and painful, usually as a result of a bacterial infection. It’s one of the most common problems affecting dairy cows. Research suggests that at least one in five dairy cows suffers from mastitis. There is no legal requirement to provide veterinary health plans.
Solution
RSPCA Assured member farms must have preventative plans in place to prevent udder infections and a vet plan to make sure cows get prompt treatment if they fall ill. We would like all cows to have vet health plans.
HOUSING
In the UK, dairy cows are usually kept outside in fields in spring and summer, and indoors in winter. Yet around 5% are kept inside continuously. To stay in good health, cows need somewhere comfortable to lie down for long periods, as well as space for the less dominant and more dominant cows to avoid each other. They also need enrichment, like cow brushes.
We think that all cattle should have access to good quality pasture, but this is not required under law.
Solution
Under RSPCA welfare standards on RSPCA Assured member farms, cows have access to a field for at least four hours a day in summer, for 110 days a year. They must have plenty of space and enouh bedding to lie down and get up easily, and cow brushes to scratch and groom themselves.
CARING FOR MUM AND CALF
Cows need specialist care before and after giving birth, and are prone to a range of health problems due to changes in their immune system and energy levels at these times. They need specialised management to ensure they stay healthy and happy, minimising stress, maximising comfort and ensuring good nutrition. Unfortunately, there is no legal requirement to provide specific care for mother cows.
Solution
Cows close to birth and after giving birth to their calves must be give extra space and nutrition to ensure they are comfortable and reduce stress. This is required under RSPCA cow welfare standards.
Beef cattle
Selective breeding
Some beef cattle breeds have been selectively bred to increase the amount of meat they produce. This can result in problems giving birth, as the calf grows too big for the mother to give birth naturally, often resulting in caesarians. We’re very concerned about the welfare of breeds who can’t give birth without assistance.
Solution
We believe that no animal should be bred in a way that compromises their welfare and such breeds are not allowed under RSPCA animal welfare standards
Housing
Like dairy cows, many cattle are housed in the winter and some never see grass outside. We’re concerned about lack of space and ventilaton, which can result in lung problems (especially in young cattle), poor lighting, slatted flooring (which is uncomfortable for cows) and lack of enrichment like brushes, leaving cows unable to engage in their natural behaviours.
Solution
We want all cows to have access to outside grazing for four hours a day during spring and summer, no fully-slatted floors, plenty of clean, dry straw to lay down on and for bulls to be kept separately from the herd in bull pens. This is all required under RSPCA welfare standards.
Cattle management
We’re concerned about a lack of; regular health checks, pain relief for procedures like dehorning mature cows and lameness, and separate pens for sick animals, as well as poor handling facilities and the use of electric goads to move animals.
Solution
Farmers must meet more than 700 RSPCA welfare standards for beef cattle under RSPCA Assured. This ensures that animals have veterinary health plans, are properly handled and transported and given proper pain relief.
Pigs
FARROWING CRATES
It is currently legal to keep a sow in a cramped farrowing rate for up to five weeks around the time she gives birth, to prevent them crushing newborn piglets. Around 60% of adult females spend up to 15 weeks a year in crates, which are so small they can’t turn around.
Solution
We have been campaigning for an end to the use of all cages in UK farming. In 2026, the government is due to launch a consultation into farrowing crates, which we hope will lead to an end to their use in the UK. RSPCA Assured never permits farrowing crates.
MUTILATION
Tail docking involves removing part of the pig’s tail without pain relief to reduce tail biting. Tail biting often happens when pigs are stressed and it can lead to pain and serious injury.
Nose ringing is used to reduce rooting and digging the ground, which increases the risk of piglet death from chilling from draughts coming into their shelters. The procedure is painful and the handling stressful.
Solution
We want to see tail docking phased out completely, but we recognise a sudden ban could be catastrophic for welfare if it led to tail biting outbreaks. These solutions must only be used when there are no feasible alternatives and only when necessary for welfare reasons. We would also like to see pigs given more space to move around and express natural behaviours, to reduce risks of bullying and tail biting.
FULLY SLATTED FLOORS
Many pigs in the UK only have slatted floors to lie on and are kept in environments where they have little to do. These intelligent animals need things to play with, like straw to root around in and express their natural behaviour. If bored, pigs become stressed and this may lead to painful tail biting.
Solution
The RSPCA Assured label means that all pigs have been given comfortable bedding to sleep on and root around in, as well as plenty of space to allow them to exercise, socialise, or find their own space if needed.
Farmed fish
Selective breeding
Water quality – its temperature, pH, oxygen levels, etc – has a big impact on fish welfare. We want to see more work done on water quality, such as carbon dioxide levels, which can impact fish welfare if too high. Increasing temperature can also make fish grow more quickly, but can result in welfare problems like spinal deformities.
Solution
We work closely with the fish farming industry to improve welfare for farmed fish. RSPCA Assured, which has more than 1,200 RSPCA welfare standards for salmon and more than 800 for trout, require all farms to have water quality monitoring programmes and action plans if something goes wrong.
Housing
Handling fish, for example for vaccination or size grading, can be very stressful for fish, especially if they are taken out of water. Handling should be kept to an absolute minimum.
Transport can also be stressful, particularly when fish are loaded or unloaded. Water quality must be maintained throughout the journey, especially if there are delays or emergencies which increase journey time.
Solution
We work with the fish industry to continually drive up welfare standards for farmed fish. Under RSPCA Assured, fish must only be handled when necessary, for the minimum time possible and never more than 15 seconds. There are detailed transportation guidelines to help minimise stress.
Slaughter
Unlike for other vertebrate farmed animals, there is no legislation covering fish slaughter. Methods such as the use of carbon dioxide, suffocation in air or on ice, or bleeding fish without stunning are unacceptable on welfare grounds. Atlantic salmon and rainbow trout should only ever be slaughtered by percussive stunning, which renders them unconscious, followed by bleeding, or electrical stunning, which stuns larger fish before bleeding or causes immediate death to smaller fish.
Solution
The only current specific protection for fish at slaughter are RSPCA’s welfare standards for salmon and trout reared under RSPCA Assured. We want to see all farmed fish protected, so we welcome the commitment in the government’s animal welfare strategy to consult on long overdue specific legislation to protect farmed fish at slaughter.
