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End Cruel Factory Farm Confinement in New Hampshire

Factory farms maximize their profits by packing as many animals as they can into the smallest amount of space possible.

On hog farms, breeding sows are confined in 2-foot-wide gestation crates barely larger than their own bodies. These crates keep the animals virtually immobilized for their entire lives. Likewise, calves raised for veal are chained by their necks inside small crates and prevented from taking more than one step forward or backward, or even turning around.

Of the 343 million egg laying hens in the U.S., 95 percent are kept inside tiny wire battery cages, which are stacked one on top of the other in seemingly endless rows. Each cage is so small that an individual hen lives out her entire life in a space smaller than an 8½-by-11 inch sheet of paper.

In the past few years alone, we have succeeded in banning gestation crates through a ballot initiative in Florida, as well as a similar ballot initiative in Arizona that banned gestation and veal crates. This year, Oregon became the first state in the nation to ban gestation crates due to a legislative vote.

In New Hampshire, Rep. Steve Vaillancourt (R, Hills) has introduced legislation to purge these forms of cruelty from the Granite State. House Bill 1522 (HB 1522) "prohibits the confinement of farm animals in such a way that they cannot move freely." If passed, the bill would stop the industry from using veal and gestation crates or battery cages, effectively preventing factory farms from doing business in the state.

HB 1522 would not only set a monumental precedent for the welfare of farm animals, but would also benefit communities in New Hampshire. By keeping huge industrialized animal farms from setting up shop in the state, the bill would spare state residents from dealing with the effects of millions of gallons of pathogen-laden animal waste that these operations spew into the environment, making people sick and harming the ecosystem.

What you can do:

On January 24th the Members of the New Hampshire House Committee on Environment and Agriculture heard testimony on HB 1522, but they have not yet voted on this measure.

Please call and e-mail your state representative and the members of the Committee and urge them to vote YES on HB 1522. If your legislator is a member of the committee - your call or email is even more important.

• find out who your NH STATE legislators are here
• Please scroll down for additional background and talking points on this legislation
• For tips on letter writing, making phone calls and lobbying, please visit: http://www.farmsanctuary.org/get_involved/act/activist_lobbying.html

The members of the House Environment and Agriculture Committee are listed below.

Committee Chairman Rep. James Phinzy: 603-271-3125
Rep. Derek Owen: 603-225-2252, owen31@juno.com
Rep. Virginia Heard: 603-284-6223, vlheard@worldpath.net
Rep. Richard Snow: 603-483-2722, richard.snow@leg.state.nh.us
Rep. Timothy O'Connell: 603-673-2963, tocnoc@comcast.net
Rep. J. David Knox: 603-569-2530, jdknox@worldpath.net
Rep. Robert Haefner: 603-889-1553, bobhaefnerjp@comcast.net
Rep. Peter Allen: 603-827-5530
Rep. Linda McCarthy: 603-216-5727, linda.mccarthy@leg.state.nh.us
Rep. Leigh Webb: 603-934-8222, leigh.webb@leg.state.nh.us
Rep. Irene Messier: 603-622-9146
Rep. William Tobin: 603-934-5946, waterlm@together.net
Rep. James Powers: 603-436-7896, jimandeva@comcast.net
Rep. Tara Sad: 603-756-4861, plginc@verizon.net
Rep. Deborah Wheeler: 603-286-8212, deborah.wheeler@leg.state.nh.us
Rep. Burton Williams: 603-744-8797
Rep. Vernon Dingman: 603-989-5930, v.dingman@worldnet.att.net

Let your representative know that you care about the welfare of farm animals and that HB 1522 is a winning proposition for animals, people and the environment.

Additional Background

Veal crates are narrow wooden enclosures, typically 2 feet wide, which prevent calves from turning around or lying down comfortably for the duration of their short, miserable lives.

Gestation crates are 2-by-7 feet enclosures in which 400-pound breeding sows are confined on factory farms for most of their lives. The sows are freed only briefly when they are moved to similarly restrictive farrowing crates, where they give birth.

Battery cages are used to confine 95 percent of all laying hens in the U.S. and allow giant egg farms to pack hundreds of thousands of hens into a single shed. Each cage is so small that an individual hen lives out her entire life in a space smaller than an 8½-by-11 inch sheet of paper.