Spread love to all mothers

Motherly love is not just unique to humans. Sows, ewes, hens, and cows are just a few other species that share a deep and special bond with their babies. Sadly, these connections are broken by the animal agriculture industry. Animal agriculture relies heavily on the exploitation of mothers, treating females like breeding machines. Mothers have their emotions and maternal and natural instincts ignored. They are repeatedly – and most often, forcibly – impregnated to create a constant supply of babies who are then killed for human consumption or clothing. When given the chance, sows, ewes, hens, and cows are wonderful, caring mothers, let’s learn how.

A sow and her piglets

Sows in the wild will prepare for the birth of her young by finding a safe place away from the herd and building a comfy nest for them. When a piglet is born, they follow their mother’s voice to her face and rub noses as a way of bonding. As she nurses her babies, she sings to them. 

Pigs live in groups, called sounders, which usually include several sows and one or more generations of offspring – meaning she will stay with some of her young for most of her life. When males reach sexual maturity, they tend to leave and become more solitary with age, joining a sounder when they are ready to mate.

All of these behaviours are denied in the pork industry.

In Australia, approximately 90% of pigs are kept in intensive, indoor farms. Sows can be kept in individual sow stalls, or housed in groups. A sow stall is barely bigger than her body, preventing her from walking or even turning around – she will stay here for up to 16 weeks. Both housing systems have concrete floors, which become covered in their waste and they are given no enrichment.

After the 16-weeks, sows are moved into farrowing crates to give birth, and they are kept there until their piglets are weaned – after approximately 3-4 weeks. Here the mother pigs are once again confined by metal bars, which restricts their ability to tend to their babies and she is made to give birth on the cold metal and concrete floors. 

The separation process is stressful for both the mother and babies. Piglets scream when they are taken away from their mother, and she calls out in distress but is unable to help them as she is constrained by the metal bars.

After her piglets are taken, the sow is then rested for a short time before being forcibly reimpregnated, most commonly by artificial insemination. Once pregnant, her miserable cycle starts again. She can endure this for up to 5 years and then is sent to slaughter as her reproductive system slows down.

While some mother pigs are kept outdoors, the entire process still relies on the exploitation of her body, separation from her young, and the early death of her babies.

A sheep and her lamb

Naturally, a ewe will give birth to one lamb, who she will nurse for up to 12 months. During nursing, the mother and baby develop a special lasting bond with each other. In the wild, a ewe and her female young will stay together for the rest of their lives, while most males will leave when they become sexually mature to find a flock of their own. All sheep have flocking instincts and they form strong bonds with certain individuals. 

Ewes stuck in the meat or wool industry have these strong bonds broken for profits. 

To increase lamb production, ewes have been selectively bred to give birth to more than one lamb. Studies have found, however, that the mortality rate increases with twins and triplets, due to the mismatched supply and demand for their mother's milk. Ewes are very maternal, and she becomes stressed because she knows that she is unable to care for all three babies. She is often forced to ignore one of the babies, to increase the chance of at least one surviving. Giving birth to more than one baby is also dangerous for the mothers, who exhaust themselves during birth. The stress and pressure of birthing more than one lamb can cause them to be 'downed', meaning they are unable to stand. They may also be left prolapsing and die, leaving behind their lambs.

A ewe is separated from her babies when they are prematurely weaned at 5-14 weeks old. This process is stressful for both the mother and babies, as it goes against their natural instincts to stay together. Her babies that are used for meat will be killed when they are only 6-8 months old.

Despite having a life expectancy of 12 years, a ewe's reproduction slows and her wool becomes more brittle when she is around 5-6 years old, making her 'useless' to the industry. As a result, she is sent to slaughter and replaced, often by one of her young. 

A hen and her chicks

A mother hen will talk to her chicks while they’re still in the eggs, and the chicks chirp back while in the shell. Once the chicks hatch, they imprint on their mother and rely on her to teach them all of their necessary survival skills. Her wings are used to protect her chicks from danger or wind and rain, and to give them warmth. Chickens form strong friendships with one another and live in groups consisting of a dominant rooster, one or more subordinate roosters, hens, and their chicks. Chickens have such strong motherly instincts that they have also been known to adopt orphaned animals, like kittens and puppies!

Both the egg and chicken meat industries rely on exploiting the hen.

To keep a constant supply of chicken meat and eggs on supermarket shelves, there must also be constant breeding. Breeder flocks are the hens and roosters who are used for breeding broiler (meat) chickens and layer hens. They live in sheds with litter or wire mesh flooring and lay eggs for around 12 months, before being killed due to a decrease in productivity. The hens in breeder flocks are never given a chance to nest on their eggs, talk to their chicks, or teach them how to survive. Their eggs are collected and kept in temperature-controlled machines until they start to hatch. In the meat industry, the hatched chicks are dumped in the sheds, where they will spend the next 6-7 weeks before they are slaughtered. In the egg industry, the males and females are separated, and almost all males are killed while the females are kept to enter the egg system.

The egg industry

In Australia, the current layer hen flock is made up of almost 22 million individuals, with an additional 7.2 million pullets (female chicks who are waiting to enter the system when they can lay eggs). Of the 22 million, over 13 million are confined to small wire cares, that prevent them from exhibiting any natural behaviours.

Naturally, a hen would lay between 10-20 eggs a year, a stark contrast to the now 300+ eggs they produce. This is because the layer hens reproductive system has been manipulated through selective breeding, artificial lighting, and feed control. The hens’ bodies struggle to keep up with this unnatural over-production of eggs and after just 12 months of laying, they are considered 'spent' and are killed.

A dairy cow and her calf

Just like humans, cows produce milk to nourish their babies and they also carry their babies for 9 months. In as little as 5 minutes postpartum, mother and calf develop a strong specific maternal bond. After birth, cows will nurse their young for up to 14 months and will stay together after this. The herds are typically made up of multiple generations of mothers and their babies, and separate bachelor groups.

But on dairy farms, families are torn apart...

It is not economically viable to keep a calf with their mother, as the calf is seen as a competitor to humans for the milk. Because of this, calves are usually taken from their mothers within 12-24 hours after birth. Both the cow and calf suffer from this separation, with cows bellowing out for their babies, chasing down the cars that steal them, and calves becoming more vocal and less social.

While some female calves are kept to replace older dairy cows, and others are kept for veal, most males and the excess females are sent to slaughter at just 5 days old. 

Once a dairy cow's milk production slows down, she is reimpregnated, usually by forcible artificial insemination and the cycle begins again. The mother cow will experience this great loss up to 9 times in her life, however, many break down after just 5 years from the stress and suffering. In Australia alone, over 1.5 million dairy cows experience this tragic loss every year.

Spread kindness to all mothers by living an animal-friendly life

A mother's love is like no other. Mothers, in all species, develop a strong bond with their offspring and their wish is to keep them safe. The animal agriculture industry breaks these bonds apart causing immeasurable suffering for all involved - and it happens again, and again, and again, until her body gives up or her heart gives in.

By choosing plant-based foods and clothing items, we can break this heartbreaking cycle, keeping mothers and babies together. If you're not sure how to move away from animal-based foods or items, we've put together a guide to help you on your journey. Take the pledge to become a conscious consumer today and spread kindness to all mothers.

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