Farm animals

FOUR PAWS has been working for decades to improve conditions in relation to the breeding, transport and slaughter of so-called farm animals such as cattle, ducks, poultry, pigs and sheep. Each year, billions of farm animals die after a short life in a terrible environment.
 
Our international campaigns have successfully initiated a transition towards animal-friendlier down production in the textile and bedding industry. One of FOUR PAWS' long-term goals is to achieve a ban on keeping laying hens in cages.

A few years ago, FOUR PAWS initiated an animal welfare labelling scheme to provide consumers of animal products with details on breeding, transport and slaughter. Our aim is to help consumers make informed decisions and to support alternative, animal-friendlier production. 

FOUR PAWS' Work

Cattle

Dairy cows being milked

Milk Madness: The Torment of Dairy Cows

What suffering is behind your daily glass of milk?

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Veal calf

The Suffering of Calves

A distressing and sad youth for the by-products of the meat and dairy industry

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Mother cow and calf

Alternatives To Dairy Cow Husbandry

Why mother-bound calf rearing and nursing cattle are more animal-friendly

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Kuh und ihr Junges

Mother-Bonded Calf Rearing

A scientific study on the mitigation of weaning distress in cow-calf-contact systems

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Cattle in the stable in Germany

The Life of Beef Cattle

Roast beef and veal schnitzel: The cruelty behind farming of cattle fattened for meat

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Cattle with horns in the pasture

Mutilation of Cattle

Painful interventions are carried out on cattle without anaesthesia

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Life Expectancy of Cattle

Life Expectancy of Cattle

A cow named "Milla" celebrated her 25th birthday on a farm in 2016 – but only a few cows have this happiness

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Dairy cow

10 Facts about Dairy Cattle

Interesting and surprising facts about cows

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Sheep & Goats

Sheep for wool production

Sheep Wool

Painful mutilations – the bloody business of sheep wool production

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Sheep in a barn

The Torment of Sheep in the Wool and Meat Industry

Lamb or mutton – the suffering in sheep husbandry

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A flock of sheep

10 Facts about Sheep

Did you know, that sheep are very gentle animals?

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Sheep in a meadow

Life Expectancy of Sheep

Comparing the natural lifespan of sheep with their lifespan in intensive farming paints a sad picture

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Goat enjoying eating the vegetables

10 Facts about Goats

What do you know about these animals?

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Rescues Goat Lotte at TIERART

Mutilation of Goats

Goats are adapted to the farm environment, instead of vice versa

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PigS

Pigs

Pig Husbandry

The curious and sociable animals cannot perform their natural behaviour in the intensive fattening systems

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Pig standing in gras

10 Facts about Pigs

Did you know that pigs like to cuddle?

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Pigs close together in sow crates

Sow Crates

How the livestock industry treats breeding sows

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Pig

Alternatives to Sow Crates

What more animal-friendly methods of farrowing are there for pigs?

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Piglets

Piglet Castration

How young pigs are neutered without anaesthesia

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Piglets

Alternatives to Non-Anesthetised Piglet Castration

What options are there to castrate piglets without pain

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Mother Instinct and Piglet Behaviour

Mother Instinct and Piglet Behaviour

How piglets grow up in agriculture and what are the possible problems in intensive farming

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Pig in a cage

Mutilation of Pigs

Pigs in the farm environment are subjected to cruel procedures

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Life Expectancy of Pigs

Life Expectancy of Pigs

About the Canadian pig lady "Ernestine" and the shockingly short life span of pigs in the pig fattening husbandry systems

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Two pigs laying in the sun

The Needs of Pigs

What do domesticated pigs really need to be healthy and happy?

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Free range pigs enjoying the mud

A Natural Day in the Life of a Pig

Rooting, rolling, wallowing – how pigs would like to live

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Chickens

Broiler Chickens

Broiler Chickens

What is the suffering behind chicken meat?

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A female laying hen in a barn

Laying Hens

With over 300 eggs per year: the high-performance chickens in the egg industry

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Types of Husbandry for Laying Hens

Types of Husbandry for Laying Hens

How do chickens live in a cage, a barn, in free-range or in organic farming systems?

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Day-old Chicks

Day-Old Chicks: Death on the Assembly Line

How millions of male chicks die in egg production 

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Eggs

Hidden Cage Eggs in Processed Food

Hens still suffer in narrow cages

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Life Expectancy of Chickens

Life Expectancy of Chickens

The oldest chicken in the world was 22 years old when she died – but in the egg industry, millions of chickens die already as chicks

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Chickens in cage

End the Cage Age

Almost 1.4 million citizens have called to end the caging of farm animals in Europe

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Chicken

10 Facts About Chickens

There's a lot more to chickens than being simple egg and meat suppliers 

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Ducks & Geese

Geese

Live Feather Plucking

Live feather plucking harms animals

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10 Facts about Geese

Did you know that geese are good "guard dogs"?

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Ducks

10 Facts About Ducks

Did you know that all ducks have highly waterproof feathers?

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Foie Gras Production in Bulgaria

Foie Gras

The dark side of a delicacy

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Other farmed animals and Issues

Poultry at a slaughterhouse

Slaughtering of Farm Animals – Animal Welfare Issues

Even if there are many detailed legal requirements on how to deal with animals at the slaughterhouse, violations occur again and again 

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Pig looking through walls at a pig farm

Commercial Slaughtering of Farm Animals

Behind every meat consumed, there is always a living being that has been slaughtered

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Broiler chicken farm

Torture Breeding of Farm Animals

The suffering from traits as a result from highly specialised breeding

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What to do if you witness abuse to farm animals

Emergencies and Abuse in Animal Husbandry

What to do as a witness of farm animal suffering

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