Injury, Disease, & Death

Mastitis: painful inflammation of the udder 

Chickens

• 25.4% of laying hens in Switzerland have moderately or severely deformed keel bones.[S]

• 86% of laying hens in Sweden suffer from keel bone fractures.[S]

• 86.1% of laying hens in Denmark suffer from keel bone fractures.[S]

• 36% of hens housed in so-called "enriched" cages, and 45-86% housed in non-cage systems in the UK, suffer from keel bone fractures.[S]

• A study found that throughout a hen's egg-laying period, mortality in caged hens was 5.39%, and 9.52% in free-range hens.[S]

• During an egg-laying period in Germany, mortality in conventional farms was 11.6%, and 9.7% in organic farms.[S]

• Each year, over 500 million broiler chickens (=chickens raised for meat) die on US farms before slaughter from disease, organ failure, and neglect.[S]

• Each year, over 80 million broiler chickens die on UK farms before slaughter from disease, organ failure, and neglect.[S]

• Each year, over 16 million broiler chickens die on Israeli farms before slaughter from disease, organ failure, and neglect.[S][S]

• Each year, over 18 million broiler chickens die on farms in the Netherlands before slaughter from disease, organ failure, and neglect.[S]

Pigs

• 16.1% of piglets in Sweden die in their first month of life.[S]

• 12.2% of piglets in the Netherlands die in their first month of life — 4 million every year.[S]

• 21% of pigs in Germany die before ever reaching slaughter — 13.6 million every year.[S]

• Every year over 330,000 pigs die during transport to slaughterhouses in the US, and an additional 800,000 are unable to walk on arrival.[S] 

Cattle

• Around 20% of dairy cows in Israel suffer from mastitis.[S]

• 25% of US dairy cows suffer from mastitis.[S]

• More than half of calves on UK dairy farms suffer from disease before weaning.[S]

• In the UK, on average, over the course of a year, there will be around 40–60 cases of clinical mastitis for every 100 dairy cows in a herd.[S]

• 34% of dairy cows in Japan suffer from mastitis.[S]

• 4.7% of dairy calves in Sweden die in the first 6 months of their life.[S]

• Over 50% of cows on organic dairy farms in Germany suffer from mastitis.[S]