96% of Brits Oppose Common Animal Farming Practices

A new study from Bryant Research has confirmed what most of us already knew: the British public is overwhelmingly against standard farming practices. And yet, these same practices continue at an industrial scale. Why?  

Public Outrage vs. Industry Reality

The numbers are staggering:  

- 94% of Brits oppose keeping chickens in cages as small as an A4 sheet of paper.  

- 96% reject the idea of pigs being kept in crates so small they can’t even turn around.  

- 87% disagree with slicing off baby chicks’ beaks.  

- 85% are against killing male chicks simply because they can’t lay eggs.  

And yet, these are standard procedures across UK farms. The egg industry kills 99% of male chicks, and 90% of dairy calves have their horn buds burned off with a hot iron. These aren’t rare or rogue cases - this is the norm. 

So if almost everyone opposes these practices, why is nothing changing?  

Symptom Management Instead of Systemic Change

The study points out that much of what happens in farming isn’t about solving problems - it’s about controlling the damage caused by the system itself.  

- Pigs bite each other’s tails out of stress, so farmers amputate their tails instead of fixing the conditions that cause the stress. 

- Chickens peck at each other because they’re crammed into tiny spaces, so farmers slice off their beaks instead of giving them space.  

- Male chicks are killed because they can’t lay eggs, so some push for "in-ovo sexing" instead of questioning why we’re breeding chickens into existence just to kill them.

All of this is like putting a plaster on a gaping wound. It doesn't fix the problem - it just hides it.

Empty Promises and Political Stalling

The UK government has a long history of acknowledging how bad these practices are - then doing nothing.

Take farrowing crates, for example. These cages confine mother pigs so tightly that they can’t even turn around for weeks at a time. Back in 2018, Herbivore Club petitioned the government to ban them, gathering thousands of signatures. The Conservative government responded by saying they aimed to “make farrowing crates unnecessary”.

Over six years later, nothing has changed. 60% of UK sows are still locked in these cages.

This is how the industry operates. The public rejects these practices, campaigners push for change, governments make vague promises - and then the cycle repeats, while animals remain trapped in the system.

Welfare Labels Won’t Cut It

The report suggests a mandatory animal welfare labelling system, so consumers can make "informed decisions." But does the public really need a new sticker on a packet of eggs to know that stuffing birds into cages is wrong? The overwhelming opposition in this study suggests otherwise.

We've seen this before. Labels like "free-range" and "high welfare" give the illusion of choice, while the same industries continue to breed, confine, and kill animals on an industrial scale. If welfare labels worked, the meat, dairy, and egg industries wouldn’t be where they are today - routinely failing even the lowest global standards, as the Business Benchmark on Farm Animal Welfare (BBFAW) recently highlighted.

The Solution? A Plant-Based Transition

The study makes it clear: the only way to avoid these practices is to stop supporting them. Instead of trying to tweak the system at the edges, Bryant Research points to a plant-based transition as the real solution. Initiatives like the Transfarmation Project help farmers switch from animal agriculture to plant production, proving that a future without this exploitation isn’t just possible - it’s already happening.

The Public Already Knows. It’s Time to Act.

The real takeaway from this study isn’t just that Brits oppose these practices. It’s that they already know how bad things are - but the system continues despite them.

The question isn’t whether people are okay with animal farming as it exists today. They aren’t.

The question is: when will we stop pretending it can ever be "acceptable"?