Economic pressures on farmers, such as the low price they are paid for milk, have led to extreme breeds of dairy cow who are able to produce up to ten times the natural amount of milk, pushed by a constant cycle of feeding and milking.
Demand better farming today
Every single year, billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money are spent by the EU on farm subsidies. A percentage should be used to help farmers invest in changes that will improve the lives of their animals. One study shows, for example, that giving indoor-housed cows access to pasture cuts BY HALF the risk of them becoming lame.
Together we can deliver better farming for Europe – but we need your support. Join us now in taking the action below to alert your MEPs and add your voice to the campaign against the filthy business of factory farming.
The European Union’s policymakers like to boast about high quality farming, often portraying healthy and happy animals pottering in pastures and farmyards. This is of course an absurdly false notion.
Every year, 80% of farm animals in the EU* spend their days confined in sheds, pens and even cages; many growing at an unnatural rate with little to do but eat grain and imported soya; billions dying in under-regulated slaughterhouses or prematurely from injury or exhaustion. But it doesn’t have to be this way.
*Estimated using figured for numbers of farmed animals from Eurostat and FAOSTAT
The more European citizens that voice their demand for EU decision makers to support more humane, sustainable forms of animal husbandry, the closer we are to ending the filthy business of factory farming.
Lameness is the scandalous secret suffered in silence by far too many of the EU's 23 million dairy cows. The factory farming approach of milking cows for 'all they are worth' is becoming increasingly common in much of Europe, including the UK. The strain on their bodies causes exhaustion. The huge volume of milk held in their udders – weighing 15kg (15 bags of sugar!) or more – makes it hard for them to walk normally. And all this brings the risk of painful problems with their hooves and legs.
Add your voice to ask for change in the way the EU spends the subsidies it gives to farmers, so that we move towards better farming practices in the UK and the EU.
Filthy Business – a new campaign to eradicate factory farming in the EU
Filthy Business aims to rid the EU of factory farming, starting with changes to the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) which allocates huge subsidies to farmers. We want a percentage of the £45 billion per year that Europe's farmers receive from EU taxpayers to subsidise better farming rather than intensive systems that subject animals to a life of misery and pain.
Right now, our farming future is in the hands of your MEPs
MEPs are discussing how these subsidies should be spent right now. Please help us to support better farming by urging your MEPs to push for more financial support for farmers who are humane towards animals, and who don't devastate the environment as they farm. Write to your MEPs and demand better farming now.
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