PREGNANT MARE URINE (PMU) FARMING

Premarin, PremPro, PremPhase and PremPac-C are estrogen drugs made from the urine of pregnant mares. There are an estimated 439 PMU farms in North America, with the vast majority located in the prairie provinces of Western Canada. The 439 figure includes 23 PMU farms in North Dakota, near the Canadian border. Almost all PMU farms are under an exclusive contract to provide pregnant mares' urine to Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories. Reports by investigaters list the following conditions the pregnant mares are subjected to:

Mares kept in tiny stalls with improper or no bedding on cold concrete floors, restrained with tethers so short that they are unable to lie down or rest their heads comfortably on the ground; and urine-collecting harnesses that overly restrict movement and cause skin abraisons. The mares are confined to these stalls for six months from October until March. They are rarely, if ever taken out of their urine-collection harness and off line for exercise. The continuous standing on concrete floors in their own feces, causes swollen legs, crippling and many of the mares die as a result of the stress.

The pregnant mares may receive considerably less water than they would normally drink. The drug company recommends that PMU farms use automatic watering systems at timed intervals in carefully measured amounts. It has been commonly reported that water was restricted in order to increase the concentration of estrogens by volume of urine and thereby to reduce the shipping cost.
A mare will normally live 20-30 years. Lack of exercise, decreased water consumption, constant pregnancy, injury, and disease, cause most PMU horses to burn out in 5 or 6 years.

I checked my HRT once I found this horror out, if it had have had  Premarine in I would NOT have continued using it. The use of a plant-derived or synthetic ERT drug offers an ethical alternative to a PMU containing drug. Yet this barbarism still happens every day of every year!

"Foals are allowed to nurse and be with their mothers for only three to four months - instead of the normal six month period.  When the mares go back into the collection barns, the farmer disposes of surplus foals.  A few females may be kept for future PMU production.  Some farmers breed registered horses hoping to sell the foals as riding prospects.  And though a few have succeeded, many thousands of foals still go to unsheltered feedlots until they reach a desirable market weight.  Most of the foals are sold at auctions when they are between two and three months old at the oldest. They can regularly be observed trying to nurse off each other. The colts are sold by lot where almost all are bought by "killer buyers" (middlemen for the slaughterhouses) and feedlot operators who fatten them up before shipping them to slaughter plants. There they are butchered and their meat is then exported to Europe and Japan as a delicacy for human consumption.

The fright and terror in these foals is apparent as they are herded through the sales arenas and then on to cramped trailers with canes and electric cattle prods. Some of them are loaded on to the backs of pickup trucks. Injuries are common, but veterinary care is virtually non-existent at these auctions. Young, frail horses are often loaded together with large, heavy horses with no one present to stop the cruel and inhumane treatment during the loading process. Over 50 years, this "harvest" has killed millions of foals.
 

Premarin Foals considered "byproducts"

Photo's from AnimalsVoice