This archive report was first published on 28 April 2020.
Piglets Aborted, Chickens Gassed as Pandemic Slams Meat Sector ¶
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread, farmers in the United States are facing a crisis that threatens the nation's meat supply. With restaurants and food-service companies closed, the demand for meat has plummeted, leaving farmers with no choice but to cull their livestock.
According to Reuters, Iowa farmer Al Van Beek was forced to order his employees to give injections to pregnant sows that would cause them to abort their baby pigs. The crisis has also led to the euthanization of millions of pigs, chickens, and cattle due to slaughterhouse closures.
John Tyson, chairman of top U.S. meat supplier Tyson Foods, warned that millions of animals will be euthanized because of slaughterhouse closures, limiting supplies at grocers. Pork production has been hit especially hard, with daily production cut by about a third.
Daybreak Foods, a company that supplies liquid eggs to restaurants and food-service companies, has been forced to euthanize its 61,000 egg-laying hens in Minnesota. The company is trying to switch gears and ship eggs to grocery stores, but egg cartons are in shortage nationwide.
Dean Meyer, a farmer in Iowa, said he is part of a group of about nine producers who are euthanizing the smallest 5 per cent of their newly born pigs, or about 125 piglets a week. The small bodies are composted and will become fertilizer.
The pandemic has also led to a backlog of 92,000 pigs waiting for slaughter in Quebec, Canada. A hog farm on Prince Edward Island in Canada euthanized 270-pound hogs that were ready for slaughter because there was no place to process them.
As the United States faces a possible food shortage, farmers are struggling to cope with the crisis. Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds and both U.S. senators from the state sent a letter to the Trump administration pleading for financial help and assistance with culling animals and properly disposing of their carcasses.
Some producers who breed livestock and sell baby pigs to farmers are now giving them away for free, translating to a loss of about $38 on each piglet, according to commodity firm Kerns & Associates.
