Midland Bacon is an intensive pig farm in northern Victoria with a deeply disturbing history of animal cruelty.

Investigations by Farm Transparency Project have exposed shocking abuses occuring behind closed doors at this facility: day-old piglets having their tails cut off with scissors, and unwanted piglets being killed by having their heads smashed against concrete. In the same sheds, a sow — later named Olivia — was allegedly sexually assaulted while confined in a farrowing crate.

Despite this history, Midland Bacon is now seeking approval to significantly expand its operations. The proposal would keep pigs at the site from birth until slaughter, rather than sending them elsewhere partway through their lives, and would result in thousands more pigs being confined at the facility.

Midland Bacon has already shown it cannot be trusted to protect animals from serious abuse. But much of the suffering inside pig factory farms in Australia is legal and routine. Allowing this piggery to expand would subject even more of these sensitive, intelligent animals to intensive confinement, painful procedures carried out without pain relief, and a system that prioritises profit over basic animal welfare.

Approving this expansion would reward a business with a proven record of cruelty and significantly increase the scale of suffering.

But this isn’t the only reason this expansion should not be approved.

The pig farm borders the Mansfield Swamp Wildlife Reserve, an important wetland that supports native wildlife and threatened plant species. Intensive pig farming generates large volumes of waste, including urine, faeces, spilled feed and wash-down water, which are stored in open effluent ponds.

Any increase in production increases the risk of pollution — particularly in a region already vulnerable to flooding, drought and extreme weather events.

Campaspe Shire Council’s own Environment Strategy commits to protecting waterways, conserving biodiversity and managing water responsibly in the face of climate change. Expanding an intensive piggery runs directly counter to those commitments.

Large-scale pig farms are recognised as high-risk sites for zoonotic disease. Piggery effluent can contain pathogens that cause serious illness in humans, and the presence of effluent ponds near wetlands increases the risk of mosquito-borne diseases such as Japanese encephalitis.

Expanding this facility would heighten these risks for the local community.

This expansion is not inevitable — but stopping it depends on community action.

Campaspe Shire Council is accepting public objections to Midland Bacon’s planning application. The Council will meet on March 17 at 6pm to determine whether to approve the application.

Councils are required to consider the volume and substance of community feedback. Clear, respectful objections that outline concerns about animal welfare, environmental harm and public health really do matter.

By lodging your objection with Council today, you are giving pigs the representation they deserve while sending a strong message to decision-makers that the community cares deeply about the treatment of these animals.