Spend a lifetime vegetating on rock hard sharp concrete cracks! A huge cruelty to animals – not only to pigs, but also to cattle, which have to stand in an enclosed space during fattening for up to two and a half years. The Association Against Animal Factories (VGT) has started a petition against the current farming conditions – every signature counts!
Not only pigs, but also beef cattle, ie mainly bulls, but also steers and so-called heifers (sexually mature cows calving for the first time), have to live on 70 percent of a fully slatted floor in Austria. This is a concrete floor intersected with sharp cracks, 3.5 cm wide and 8 cm apart.
Less space than in a small car – for up to 30 months
The aim of this form of farming is, with cattle and pigs, that you no longer have to worry about mucking out the stables. With their movements, the animals themselves push the feces through the crevices, and the urine flows out. However, it is not possible to use straw or other soft litter on fully slatted floors, as this would clog the slats and make mucking out necessary again. That is why the cattle get so little space on fully slatted floors.
The Smart Fortwo car brand is 2.7 meters long and 1.7 meters wide. For comparison: a bull weighing up to 650 kilograms has 1.5 x 1.8 meters of floor space throughout its 20-month life!
Deadlines in stool and urine
These animals can’t move enough, they can’t express their social behavior, they don’t have enough occupations. Nevertheless, this form of husbandry is legally permitted in Austria. Instead of a soft natural floor that smells of grass and meadow herbs, there is a smelly, hard, completely slatted floor soiled with excrement and urine. In addition, the legally required drying places are often missing.
Initiative of the VGT: End the suffering of beef cattle on fully slatted floors!
A review is urgently needed! Because an alternative form of livestock farming with soft litter is also established and economically feasible in Austria. In a country with animal protection as a national goal, no animal should have to live on fully slatted floors.
The association against animal factories has now launched a campaign to make the suffering of beef cattle on fully slatted floors a social subject for discussion, analogous to the suffering of pigs. Click here for the petition against the current form of livestock farming. Our Tierecke editors support this important initiative – sign too!
Source: Krone
I am Wallace Jones, an experienced journalist. I specialize in writing for the world section of Today Times Live. With over a decade of experience, I have developed an eye for detail when it comes to reporting on local and global stories. My passion lies in uncovering the truth through my investigative skills and creating thought-provoking content that resonates with readers worldwide.
