Just weeks after we revealed our devastating findings at Somerby Top farm, Cranswick plc is back in the national spotlight. Today, we have launched a damning investigation at Mere Farm in Lincolnshire. Despite publicly announcing a ban on the violent practice of piglet ‘thumping’, Cranswick staff were caught on camera doing exactly that. It wasn’t just piglets who were the target of grotesque attacks, though. We documented a four-day-long torrent of assaults directed towards a collapsed mother pig that ended in her dying. As featured in the Independent.

It's difficult to fathom the wickedness that we continue to find on pig farms. But we can't look away – and we can’t give up. We must keep fighting for justice.

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In May 2025, we caught Cranswick workers red-handed, illegally slamming piglets onto concrete floors to kill them. Just months later, and exactly one day after the company announced that ‘thumping’ had been banned across its farms, we filmed more piglets becoming the victims of this incomprehensible act. The babies were left writhing on the cold floor – one was still thrashing after nine long minutes, and another was still moving for as long as 20 minutes afterwards.

On July 28 2025, following Cranswick’s AGM, the company informed Animal Justice Project, “[We have] banned the use of so called “piglet thumping” on all of our farms.” Yet, just one day later on July 29, a piglet was killed by ‘thumping’ at Mere Farm. As we had previously shown at Cranswick’s farms, this wasn’t a one-off situation. A day later, another was killed. In total, we filmed nine piglets facing this violent end.

A mother pig, who had given birth the previous day, and who was unable to stand up, was targeted repeatedly by Cranswick’s staff. Over a harrowing four days, she was beaten again and again. She was kicked in the vulva, her stomach stamped on and she was stabbed in the head and face with a metal spade. The workers let their anger loose on her then laughed afterwards.

She couldn’t fight back – she was too exhausted. A metal noose and a rope were used to drag her out of the crate, both wrapped tightly around her legs. The worker joked, “You dying?” before laughing with his colleagues. He walked over her, standing on her stomach, and moments later she took her last breath and died.

We will never know what her favourite foods could have been or the quirks of her personality. To Cranwick she was just a number – 2051.

Many other pigs and piglets across the farm were left to suffer in agony, as their obvious health issues were left to fester. One piglet had a ruptured eye and another had such swollen feet they could barely walk. Mother pigs had sores along their bodies after constantly rubbing on the restrictive cage bars they were trapped in.

Our findings mirror those of any pig farm we have ever investigated. These issues are not solely linked to Mere Farm; they are reflective of the entire pig sector.

If you do something today, make it your mission to help bring down this hideous industry.

As always,

For the animals.