Despite the cruelty they experience, I learned pigs were loving and tender

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Before I went undercover at a Holden Farms ([link removed]) pig breeding facility in Utica, Minnesota, I’d never really given much thought to pigs. I had no idea that they were tender and affectionate, and that they had distinct personalities and could form strong bonds with each other. This all changed when I met Meech, a boar at this facility.

It was Meech’s job to “heat check” the sows. He was led by a machine along the rows and the workers would observe if the sows reacted to him, indicating they were ready to breed. I was quite wary when I first approached Meech, as I was anxious about his intimidating tusks. But as I cautiously reached out to him, he leaned his head into my palm, grateful for the gentle touch he was usually denied.

The things I saw at Holden Farms will stay with me forever. I saw so much suffering. I saw hundreds of sick and injured piglets. They would be left to languish until a pile of piglets had built up, just to save a few pennies on the gas being used to kill them. Sometimes, management told the workers to leave the piglets overnight, scared, cold and without food and water, before being gassed to death the next day. In an effort to save even more money, sometimes the level of gas used was not strong enough to kill the piglets quickly. Instead, the piglets would gasp for air while barely clinging to life before being subjected to a second round of gas. In their final moments, they would scream in agony.
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Image 1: Piglets being gassed to death
Image 2: A cart full of dead piglets
Whenever castrations were done, the screams of the piglets would fill the room. The piglets would run from the workers in fear and struggle and cry while their tiny bodies were mutilated and tattooed. Without any pain relief, their scrotums would be sliced open with razor blades and their testicles brutally ripped out by hand. Mother pigs would bark at the workers and try to bite them in a desperate effort to protect their babies. Instead of showing compassion, the workers would throw the severed testicles at each other as a game.

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The pain that these animals had to endure was beyond anything I could’ve imagined. Many sows suffered from untreated prolapses and received no relief from the agony they were left to deal with. They were eventually killed, sentenced to death for being forced to overproduce piglets. These prolapses were often so severe that their crates would be covered in their blood and their organs would hang outside of their bodies.
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Image 3: A piglet screams as his tail is cut off
Image 2: A sow about to be jumped on
The most devastating incident that I witnessed during my time at Holden Farms was when a sow became trapped between two bars in her pen. The manager and a worker repeatedly saw her struggling to free herself as the bars restricted her breathing, but callously left her there overnight. She was dead by the morning. I walked in that day to see her lifeless body being cut in half with a mechanical saw to remove her from the crate that served both as her prison and her coffin.

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It shocked me to see how quickly people became desensitized to the suffering of the animals. One coworker went from being so disturbed by her duties that she’d have tears running down her face to performing the same duties without even flinching in just a few weeks.

Meech really opened my eyes to how special pigs are, but even if he hadn’t, the horrendous cruelty I witnessed at Holden Farms will never leave me. While it was excruciating to witness so many traumatic events during my time at this facility, I will never regret doing so. Because being able to document what was happening to these pigs and being able to share this with the world is so important. While my investigation can’t change the lives of the animals who suffered during my time there, it can change the world for millions of pigs in the future.

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You can help animals every time you sit down to eat. Find out more about leaving pigs and other animals off your plate at TryVeg.com ([link removed]) .

Your support will truly make a difference to animals like Meech suffering in the animal agriculture industry.
With gratitude,

"Jim"
Undercover Investigator
P.S. We will not stop investigating facilities like Holden Farms while animals continue to suffer - but we need your help. Will you support our undercover investigations by making a one-time donation ([link removed]) or by joining our United for Change Monthly Giving Program ([link removed]) ?
After reviewing the footage, the Animal Legal Defense Fund filed a False Claims Act lawsuit against Holden Farms. The false claim is predicated on Holden Farms’ receipt, and the ultimate forgiveness, of $2.57 million in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan funding under the CARES Act. To secure the funding, Holden Farms certified it is not engaging in any illegal activity under federal, state, or local laws. The lawsuit claims the four-month undercover investigation at the Utica facility establishes Holden Farms “engages in systematic and ongoing violations of the Federal Swine Health Protection Act, the Minnesota anti-cruelty law, and the Minnesota anti-garbage feeding law. Click here ([link removed]) to find out more.

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