From December 2023 to May 2024, our field teams regularly monitored the Biomega blood farm in Melo, Uruguay. At this facility, the fertility hormone PMSG is extracted from the blood of pregnant mares and used to enhance efficiency in industrial animal breeding.

The treatment of the mares at Biomega is both unprofessional and brutal. The terrified…

In early February, we spent a week observing the Argentine blood farm Syntex, where blood is taken from pregnant mares for the PMSG preparation Fixplan, which is exported to Europe and Germany.

On the pastures of Syntex, we found sheer misery. Nearly every other mare was lame or had open wounds. For years, we have criticized the blood collection…

In summer 2023, we conduct further investigations into the production of the fertility hormone PMSG in Iceland. The new footage from two blood farms shows that the suffering of the blood mares continues. They are kicked, beaten and confined in injury-inducing restraint boxes. The mares are frightened or panic, they resist and try to escape.

The…

During a six-day investigation in Argentina, we observe the Syntex blood farm. This blood farm keeps thousands of mares from which blood is taken during pregnancy for the production of the fertility hormone PMSG. We had already filmed the violent handling of the mares during blood collection in both 2015 and 2018. There have been no improvements to…

During an investigation in Uruguay, we observe the Biomega blood farm over two days. Blood collections from pregnant mares continue to take place to produce the fertility hormone PMSG. We take a look at the wide pastures where the so-called “blood mares” are kept. It is very hot, and the small bushes do not provide enough shade for the horses. The…

On this relatively small blood farm, blood is extracted today from 60 mares in three restraint boxes, which takes three hours in total. The mares are restrained in the boxes with a belt over their backs so that they cannot rear up. Their heads are pulled up by a rope and fixed to one side of the box. Then, a large-bore cannula is inserted into…

Video footage obtained on a large blood farm with six restraint boxes shows the everyday treatment of blood mares during blood extraction. The entire procedure, lasting three hours in total, is stressful for the semi-wild horses.

The mares and foals are herded from the pasture to the blood collection site with honking cars, shouting people and…

During an investigation into PMSG production in Uruguay, we observe the Biomega blood farm for three days. There, blood is taken from pregnant mares for the production of the fertility hormone PMSG. We had already filmed the violent handling of mares during blood collection in 2018, and despite promises by the Uruguayan government to improve the…

During ten days of investigation in Iceland, we find 40 blood farms out of around 100 farms where blood is taken from pregnant mares for the production of the fertility hormone PMSG. We detect numerous risks of injury to the mares at these facilities. Most raceways and restraint boxes have dangerous gaps where the mares can injure their legs, and…