Cranswick plc is the largest British-owned pig company, with over 900,000 pigs and piglets on its farms. It supplies major supermarkets like Tesco, Morrisons and Sainsbury's with bacon, pork and sausages. It's hailed as an "industry leader" and engages in the same routine practices that are widespread across the pig industry. Hundreds of thousands of animals are confined in barren concrete sheds – a stark contrast to the image presented by retailers and Cranswick's marketing. We planted an undercover worker inside one of its pig breeding facilities – Northmoor Farm in Lincolnshire – and what we caught on our cameras was much worse than we could have ever expected.
As exposed by the Mail on Sunday, the horrors uncovered at this Red Tractor-assured farm were not isolated incidents but routine practices deeply embedded in its daily operations. Northmoor Farm operates on an industrial scale, confining up to 6,000 pigs inside its sheds at any one time. We filmed barbaric lawbreaking, excruciatingly painful mutilations, imprisoned mothers, violent outbursts from Cranswick staff, and much more.
“We’ve taken so much away from them. If they were to escape out in Lincoln, they'd probably find a lovely green park or something and root it all up and find food and express normal behaviours. We’ve put them in a fully slatted, quite sterile environment. We’ve taken it all away from them.” – Breeding and Project Manager
Mother pigs are trapped in a relentless cycle on farms, reduced to breeding machines for multimillion-pound companies like Cranswick. After being artificially inseminated on the farm, expectant mothers were violently pushed into farrowing crates, where they would remain for several weeks, unable to even turn around. We filmed staff pulling the hair and tails of pigs and kicking them in their stomachs to force them into the crates. Once imprisoned, all the pigs could do was lie down and stand up.
The torment didn't end there. After giving birth, staff were no more compassionate towards the new mothers. They were beaten with plastic spades, kneed in their backs and slapped in the face. Trapped in the claustrophobic crates, the sows could not express natural maternal behaviours such as nurturing their piglets or building a protective nest for their young.
One in ten babies died within weeks of birth at Northmoor Farm. The piglets were mutilated at just a couple of days old. Their tails were cut off without pain relief – a procedure that is not legally allowed to be carried out as routine, but was done to every single piglet on this Cranswick farm. This painful act was carried out to supposedly prevent tail biting as the piglets grew, a behaviour that pigs do as a result of becoming frustrated from being locked inside desolate, barren pens with minimal enrichment. This farm's so-called 'enrichment' included a chewed plastic pipe or a block of wood hanging on a metal chain.
The piglets' teeth were also ground down to prevent them from injuring each other. Nevertheless, many babies sustained facial injuries, most likely inflicted by one another in the overcrowded and stressful environment. Iron injections were also given to every piglet – a grim substitute for the natural behaviour of rooting in soil, something these piglets will never get to experience.
While physical beatings and dismal environments were disturbingly routine, the most harrowing finding was the deliberate illegal killing of piglets across Northmoor Farm. Piglet 'thumping' was made illegal in the United Kingdom in 2022. It is the process of slamming a piglet's head onto a hard surface like concrete in an attempt to kill them. This wicked act was filmed several times and was carried out by multiple Cranswick workers, with one even stating that it was 'legal'. Piglets were left appearing to breathe several minutes later, and others were 'thumped' multiple times as staff had no idea if the babies were dead or alive, despite being responsible for their 'welfare'.
"The footage from Northmoor Farm shows repeated and ineffective attempts to kill piglets using blunt force trauma. A humane killer was not used and no assessments were made to confirm death. At least one piglet appeared to continue breathing after the attempted kill. That such practices are taking place on a large, commercial farm highlights a serious failure in training, management and oversight.”– Dr Alick Simmons, former UK Deputy Chief Veterinary Officer.
We documented an abundance of painfully botched killings across the farm, and the most horrifying incidents involved the killing of severely lame sows. In one particularly distressing example, a sow who was in a farrowing crate had a restraint put over her face and was dragged backwards by two workers. She was torn away from her piglets and forced to leave them behind. She collapsed in the walkway but was goaded out of the shed as workers hit and swore at her. Outside, she was shot three times with a captive bolt gun, as the workers appeared not to know if she was conscious or not, and later had a metal 'pithing' rod into her brain to kill her. This would have been the first time she'd have been able to move around, breathe fresh air or see the sky in weeks. But rather than offer her a moment of compassion or dignity, the Cranswick workers took her life away. They dumped her body alongside many other dead individuals who, too, were victims of the pig industry.
A second collapsed pig wasn't afforded any compassion either. Unable to stand up, she was shot in the head with a bolt gun by a Cranswick worker. She screamed immediately in distress as the shot missed and left her writhing in agony. The worker joked "that's what happens when you miss". She cried out for an agonising 23 seconds before being shot a second time.
Cranswick, whose profits soared to £176 million in a single year, claims that "animal welfare is at the heart of our business." Yet the findings uncovered by Animal Justice Project's investigation paint a picture of stark contrast – one that directly contradicts the welfare-washing marketing the company projects.
“Beyond the appalling conditions, the lack of empathy and overt abuse shown by staff on this farm is deeply disturbing. There is no excuse for the extreme rough handling and violence. Staff are legally required to be trained and competent, yet pigs are left to suffer through repeated failed efforts to move, treat, or kill them. Particularly shocking is the killing of piglets by slamming them against a hard surface — a practice that is both illegal and deeply inhumane, especially when executed as poorly as we see here. Sadly, cruelty is not unusual in British pig farms; it’s something I’ve seen all too often across the sector.” – Dr Alice Brough, BVM&S MRCVS, Veterinarian.
As if their lives weren't already hellish, across the farm, sick and injured pigs seemed to be left without treatment for days – many of the illnesses were entirely preventable and treatable. From prolapses to football-sized hernias to open wounds to ruptured testicles, both piglets and their mothers were left to suffer in agony. Persistent coughing and wheezing, indicating potential respiratory infections, was seen in young piglets who had been moved to pens in the pouring down rain and herded into damp, filthy pens. These findings reveal a complete disregard for the pigs' health and well-being. After years of investigating animal farming, it's clear that such neglect is not the exception, but the norm.
'Small' piglets were singled out of group pens or taken away from their mothers and killed one by one in scenes that reflect a horrifying bloodbath. These individuals are deemed unprofitable or too small to compete with the others, so are often killed to prevent profit loss. These animals were picked up and thrown by their ears, held by their legs or draped over a wheelbarrow to be shot. Their lives were taken away to protect Cranswick's bottom line.
We are calling on the UK government to enforce existing law by immediately upholding the piglet 'thumping' ban and prosecuting the offenders, Cranswick plc. Add your signature today.
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