For the sake of efficiency and lower costs, Premium Standard Farms has turned pig

production into a standardized product-focused process. Slaughterhouses have done

this for hundreds of 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 females (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 three 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 its system helps reduce the
cost of pork products.

Discuss the productivity and ethical implications of this industry and these two
divergent opinions.

If we look at it from the productivity side and efficiency perspective of the

company, the company believes that the pig will be slaughtered and die when the
time comes, so the company is doing what is best for productivity, efficiency, the
highest priority here is the consumer. Mentioning that only 1% die before Premium
Standard improves their position. From the productivity perspective, it is better.
Ethically I cannot confirm if the other point of view is proven scientifically, but
I would be happy with the rise of non-meat products. I believe it could be hard on
the pigs. The industry will have backlash from the animal rights group.