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Farm animals

Facts and figures
Education > Facts and figures > Farm animals

Farm animals – exploited animals!

While cats and dogs are Switzerland’s favourite pets, so-called farm or slaughter animals are hardly ever really perceived as animals, i.e. as sentient beings. They are suppliers of meat, milk or eggs and usually lead a very miserable existence for this purpose, even in Switzerland.

Although more and more people claim to eat no or very little meat and plant-based alternatives are becoming increasingly diverse, meat consumption in Switzerland has remained high in recent years. Even the fact that animal products are unecological does not seem to have persuaded society to rethink. Animal suffering is completely ignored.

Development of meat and fish consumption in Switzerland

Year Consumption in tonnes Per capita consumption in kg
2024 529’897 58.3
2023 510’900 56.7
2022 531’251 59.63
2021 533’883 60.67
2020 525’109 59.74
2019 515’367 59.65
2018 519’371 60.75
2017 516’883 60.73
2016 507.536 59.92
2015 506’394 60.36
2014 508’039 61.14
2013 501’329 61.06
2012 490747 60.36
2011 502’208 62.39
2010 427’138* 53.59*
2009 413’319* 52.38*
2008 417’330* 53.35*

(Source: Statistik der Branchenorganisation Proviande)

It should not be forgotten that the per capita calculation also includes vegetarians, vegans, small children, etc. And it does not include the proportion of meat bought or consumed abroad. And the proportion of meat that Mr and Mrs Swiss buy or consume abroad is not included.

*In den Jahren 2008–2010 ist der Konsum von Fisch und Krustentieren noch nicht eingerechnet.

By animal species in tonnes of meat

Year / species Pork Beef Calf Poultry Fish
2024 174’279 99’776 18’933 144’398 76’685
2023 171’261 97’040 19’211 132’357 74’541
2022 184’400 97’802 19’356 133’567 79’010
2021 186’700 101’689 19’726 130’062 77’849
2020 184’775 99’481 20’465 124’608 77’626
2019 182’289 97’017 21’351 122’274 73’270
2018 184’998 97’157 21’996 121’521 74’460
2017 182’456 94’283 21’865 116’998 73’823
2016 190’460 95’553 22’959 101’945 75’791
2015 191’460 94’502 23’305 101’614 74’424
2014 196’374 95’187 24’231 98’899 72’810
2013 192’612 94’447 24’806 93’792 74’573
2012 191’587 90’028 25’474 92’030 69’719
2011 199’820 90’556 25’852 91’696 71’283
2010 201’919 89’254 25’463 87’665 70’292
2009 194’278 86’720 25’653 85’150 68’672
2008 196’312 88’406 24’382 85’120 66’143

(Source: Statistik der Branchenorganisation Proviande)

It’s up to the consumer

Game, sheep, goats, rabbits, horses, fish and even exotic animals such as ostriches and kangaroos also delight the tastes of many people in Switzerland. And fish consumption continues to rise despite all the warnings and information about overfishing and the bycatch problem.

Whether pigs, cats, cattle, dogs, chickens, horses, fish or rodents. No animal should suffer. All animals have the right to a species-appropriate life, free from fear and pain. It is up to the consumer to decide whether or not they contribute to animal suffering.

Information on the individual farm animal species

Pigs

Pork is Switzerland’s favourite meat. Did you know that pigs are among the most intelligent mammals? Pigs are extremely curious and very capable of learning. In their natural environment, they spend a lot of time exploring their surroundings. Contrary to popular belief, pigs are also exceptionally clean animals. They would never do their ‘business’ in their ‘living area’. On the contrary, pigs very clearly separate a living area, a feeding area and a faeces area, whereby the faeces area should be as far away as possible from the other areas, as pigs have a highly sensitive nose. Of course, they like to wallow in the mud. But this is because they can’t sweat and the mud bath cools them down. In general, this wallowing serves their own personal hygiene. Pigs are very social and live in large groups. And when there are offspring, the sow builds a soft nest for her young.

The needs of pigs are not taken into account in intensive pig farming. In addition to the great boredom, many other tortures are added to the pigs’ tale of woe. Castration of boars without anaesthesia, shortening of curly tails with forceps, breaking out canine teeth, premature separation from the mother, etc. Pigs suffer unspeakable agony from birth, during their short life in fattening, during transport and until their death in the slaughterhouse. And, have you ever thought about it? There are so many pigs in Switzerland – why do you hardly see any?

Chickens

Chickens have a theoretical life expectancy of 20 years or more. In fattening houses, chickens are fed ready for slaughter at the age of 5-8 weeks. Laying hens usually live for a maximum of 15 months. At the latest then they go into moult. As they do not lay any eggs during this time, it is no longer profitable to keep them and they are disposed of. They are disposed of because their emaciated bodies can no longer be sold as meat. In order to replace the laying hens each year, the same number of females must be reared. During the production of the offspring, however, 50% male chicks also hatch. These are destroyed on the first day of life (gassed or shredded) , because they do not lay eggs and are bred for laying performance, which means that they do not put on meat as quickly as chickens bred for meat production. This means that there is an infinite amount of live waste. In Switzerland alone, around 2 million chicks are killed every year. In Germany, the figure is 60 million.

The longer an egg producer lets his hens live, the fewer offspring need to be produced and therefore fewer animals are killed prematurely. After moulting, hens lay eggs again. Larger and some say even better. Unfortunately, they no longer quite fit into standard egg cartons. According to KAG Freiland, such eggs are difficult to market. In our opinion, however, it has never really been tested. The consumer has a part to play. If there was a demand for large eggs from older hens, farmers would be interested in keeping the hens for longer. Every extra year that a laying hen is allowed to live prevents the death of at least two hens.

Egg consumption in Switzerland is equivalent to around 185 eggs per capita per year. Around 60 – 70% of these eggs are from Switzerland. The remaining eggs come from abroad, mostly from battery farming, which is banned in Switzerland. In battery farming, the hen has an area of just under an A4 sheet of paper at its disposal. Eggs are usually used in foodstuffs, e.g. pasta, baked goods, ready meals, etc. Very few consumers care where the egg in a ready-made product or the egg in a restaurant or canteen comes from.

Further information and our commitment to chickens in Switzerland can be found here.

Cows

In addition to meat, cows also provide humans with milk and the dairy products made from it. According to Swissmilk, per capita consumption of milk and dairy products in Switzerland is almost 400 kg per year. This makes Switzerland one of the top countries in terms of milk consumption. For a cow to produce milk, it must give birth to a calf. Like humans, a cow’s pregnancy lasts nine months. Normally, mother and child are separated shortly after birth. The cow is now milked regularly. However, it is not the calf that gets the milk, but the human. To ensure that the cow’s milk production does not decrease, she must give birth to a calf every year. This means that the cow is pregnant for practically her entire life. A high-performance birthing machine.

Dairy cows

At around six years of age, the dairy cow is no longer able to fulfil the milk production requirements placed on her. She thus becomes unprofitable and is slaughtered. She could easily live to be over 20 years old. After a short working life, however, she has had her day. Death beckons as a reward for the work done.

Calves

Calves are usually separated from their mothers shortly after birth. In the case of cows used for milk production, only the female calves are of use to producers. The male calves are quickly killed. They are effectively an unprofitable by-product. For meat production, both sexes are fattened and slaughtered while still young. Calves are curious, active and playful animals. Their needs are not met either in the cramped conditions of factory farming or on the farm, because on farms without factory farming, calves often spend their time alone in so-called igloos. Either way, the animals suffer because they are not even allowed to fulfil their basic needs.

Goats

It is estimated that just under 80,000 goats are kept in Switzerland. Around half of these are used for milk production. However, a goat only produces milk if it has given birth to a kid. These kids, half of which are males and not suitable for dairy farming, are slaughtered at the age of six to eight weeks, i.e. while they are still suckling. Goat meat is most popular at Easter. The meat of the older animals, whose production declines, is usually processed into sausages or dried meat.

Horses

Horse meat is less popular in Switzerland than pork, beef or chicken. Per capita consumption amounts to just under 700 grams per year. However, domestic production is still not enough to meet demand. 90% of the demand for horsemeat has to be imported. The main importing countries are the USA, Canada and Mexico. Since three large horse slaughterhouses were closed in the USA, the horses are transported thousands of kilometres to Mexico. The conditions in slaughterhouses are shocking. The agony the animals suffer during transport and in the slaughterhouse is unspeakable.

The situation is no better in Eastern Europe. Contrary to popular belief, many horses are only kept for fattening. They spend their short lives in dark, dirty stables and are given concentrated feed every day to make them fat quickly. Other horses are used for labour, even at the tender age of 15 months. Without veterinary care, grooming and proper care, they are quickly used up. Both fattening horses and working horses end up as young animals on the horse market, where they are bought by traders and transported by the thousands to slaughterhouses abroad. Many of them do not survive the transport and die before they arrive at the slaughterhouse.

Switzerland covers 10% of its own requirements mainly through foals that are not used for breeding because they are not considered sufficiently beautiful at the shows in autumn. In most cases, the young animals are separated from their mothers immediately after the show and driven to the butcher. This is very stressful for mother and child. A small proportion of the demand for horse meat is also met by disused breeding, sport or leisure horses. Tired of the animal because it no longer delivers the desired performance, some ‘horse lovers’ decide to dispose of their animal. The purchase price for a new, more efficient horse probably leaves no more room for the costs of a place in a pasture of mercy or old pasture.

Sheep

Sheep are considered to be very frugal animals. In Switzerland, ruminants are often kept in steep or at least hilly areas where it is almost impossible to use the meadows for haymaking and cows would cause trampling damage due to their weight. As the management of such areas is not particularly profitable, sheep are used as inexpensive landscape managers. Their needs are all too often neglected. Far too many cases of cruelty, abuse or total neglect involve sheep. Lack of protection from the weather, lack of care and/or lack of supervision are common examples that lead to illness or premature death of the animals.

An estimated quarter of a million sheep live in our Alps. Of these, between 60 and 200 are killed by so-called predators such as wolves. Around 10,000 animals die as a result of disease, accidents or falls.

A distinction is made as follows: Lambs are not older than one year, suckling lambs are at least eight weeks old and a maximum of six months old and are still suckling with their mother. Mutton are animals that are not yet older than two years; these can be male, castrated animals or female animals without offspring. Sheep are female and male castrated animals that are over two years old. Bucks are male animals that have not been castrated and are older than one year.

Sheep are distinctly herd animals that live together in a clear hierarchy. In terms of meat production, lamb meat plays a particularly important role in Switzerland, and ‘suckling lamb’ can be found on many menus. Separation from the mother is also a shock for sheep. Anyone who has ever watched lambs at play will inevitably be reminded of children playing. Almost 10,000 tonnes of sheep and lamb meat are eaten in Switzerland every year.

Rabbits

The Swiss consume 1-2 tonnes of rabbit meat per year. Most of this is imported, usually from Eastern Europe or even China. The conditions under which these foreign animals are kept are usually indescribably cruel. But even in Switzerland, these social animals are too often not kept in a species-appropriate manner. Although Article 13 of the Animal Welfare Ordinance stipulates that animals of social species must be allowed social contact with conspecifics, rabbits of all animals have been excluded from this regulation. Probably due to pressure from breeders/fatteners and the chemical/pharmaceutical industry, it was decided not to offer these animals the minimum quality of life. Crate rearing is still widespread in Switzerland and is protected by law. The minimum dimensions prescribed by law do not even allow these animals to stand upright, which would actually be part of their normal movements. Gnawing and digging are also among the basic needs of these animals, which are generally completely ignored.

Exotics

In a brochure entitled ‘Exotic meat for gourmets’, Bell Metzgerei offers springbok, kudu, kangaroo and ostrich. Other distributors have also discovered this ‘gap in the market’ and, in addition to their conventional range, offer the meat of many exotic species for consumption. Diseases such as BSE, avian influenza and swine fever have favoured this questionable development. Out of fear of infection, people are looking for alternatives without giving a thought to the consequences. As a result, more and more exotic animals are being caught in the wild or bred in an inappropriate manner for meat. Take ostriches, for example: there are countless ostrich farms in Switzerland.

However, very few operators are concerned about animal welfare, as keeping ostriches in a species-appropriate way is very costly. The animals need an enormous amount of space to run, as they can and want to run at speeds of up to 70 kilometres per hour. And they like to bathe in the sand to clean themselves daily. They are also used to a dry and warm climate. Not necessarily prerequisites for keeping ostriches in Switzerland. But again: The consumer decides. And as a result, more and more exotic species are likely to end up on Swiss plates in the coming years.

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