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Trump’s ‘new era of animal welfare’ excludes almost all farm animals

Saint Cloud, MN, USA / KNSI
Jessica Scott-Reid for Sentient
Oct 13, 2026 | 9:00 AM
Brien Aho // U.S. Department of Agriculture

The Trump administration is proposing major updates to the standards, monitoring and enforcement for the way animals are treated, touting a “new era of animal welfare.” The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced plans last month to update the Animal Welfare Act and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a rule that will allow the option to test the safety of drugs and biologics without using animals.

However, these big plans overlook the largest populations of animals cared for by humans in the United States. The “new era” of welfare applies only to companion animals and animals used in testing and research. But what about cows, pigs, chickens and other animals farmed for food? These animals are not included, and when Sentient reached out to the FDA and USDA to ask why, we received no response.

What’s New: Increased Monitoring and Standards

Momentum towards reducing animal testing has increased under the second Trump administration, initially as part of efforts to cut wasteful government spending. The momentum has spurred new regulation, with the FDA issuing a rule on Sept. 21, clarifying that drugmakers can use non-animal methods to assess drug safety before human trials. Animal testing is still allowed, but the agency is broadening the language used in the regulations to include these changes, such as replacing terms like “animal tests” and “preclinical tests” with “nonclinical tests.” It is set to take effect Feb. 4, 2027, unless significant public comment pushes the administration to alter the proposal.

In a joint statement with the USDA, Kennedy also announced that his department has launched a new webpage “so the public can see our progress.”

President of the Humane World Action Fund, Sara Amundson, called the change in a statement, “a historic milestone in our long-standing effort to dismantle outdated federal policies that have kept animal testing entrenched in drug development.”

Also on Sept. 21, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced a new USDA plan focused on “strengthening” companion-animal welfare, particularly dogs, whose care is covered by the Animal Welfare Act. This includes a 2027 proposal updating welfare standards for dogs, which would cover medical care, exercise and socialization and the use of dogs in research, according to the statement. “In the Trump Administration, animals deserve to be treated with respect and cared for properly,” said Rollins in the joint statement. “Today’s announcement will lay out new standards to improve animal welfare, deploy new training and staff to continuously monitor facilities under our care,” the statement also read in part.

The department has also established an Animal Protection Bureau that monitors and investigates compliance and works with inspectors and veterinary officers to improve oversight and enforcement of animal welfare regulations. Additionally, the USDA Office of Inspector General plans to increase its independent investigators, or watchdogs, by 20% and intensify enforcement against operators — such as dog breeders and researchers — who are skirting Animal Welfare Act requirements.

Farm Animals Left Out

The federal Animal Welfare Act functions to protect companion animals, like dogs and cats, some warm-blooded animals used in research and testing and warm-blooded animals in zoos or other exhibits. But it does not include animals raised on farms for food or those used for any other agricultural purposes, including livestock at USDA facilities.

There are no federal laws that govern the care of livestock and poultry raised on farms for non-organic products, however there are laws that oversee their treatment during some stages of food production. For example, the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act covers slaughter of animals raised for food. Birds are covered by the Poultry Products Inspection Act. Another protection is the Twenty-Eight Hour Law, which limits how long livestock can be in transit without food, water or rest.

But those laws are limited and “poorly enforced,” argues Delcianna Winders, a professor at Vermont Law and Graduate School and director of its Animal Law and Policy Institute. A 2026 review by the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that between 2013 and 2025, the USDA referred just one potential violation of the Twenty-Eight Hour Law to the Department of Justice. The department did not take enforcement action.

Earlier this year, Sentient reported on evidence that some livestock truck transporters were falsifying their paper logbooks to drive longer than legal limits meant to prevent fatigue and potential crashes.

Trump administration officials have also proposed changes to rules regarding how some animals are slaughtered. “The USDA is moving forward with efforts to accelerate the speed of slaughter to as many as 175 [chickens] per minute,” Winders tells Sentient in an email. She also notes that “extreme speed slaughter means less time to handle and stun animals properly, meaning more animals will be dragged, kicked, thrown, and even scalded and skinned alive.”

With farm animals largely excluded from the Animal Welfare Act, oversight of their treatment typically falls to state and local authorities. “States don’t fill that void,” writes Winders, and protections vary widely across the country.

A 2022 USDA analysis found that only 14 states had enacted policies that oversee animal farming practices, most of which put restrictions on the confinement of pigs, laying hens and veal calves — representing only a small portion of production and animals. And some of those state and local laws have faced federal challenges, such as the 2026 Farm Bill containing the so-called Save Our Bacon Act, which would override state restrictions on the use of crates and cages.

“How we treat animals reflects our values and our responsibility to protect both animal and human health,” said Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., in the joint statement. “Under President Trump, we are strengthening oversight, enforcing the law, and holding those who mistreat animals accountable.”

Sentient contacted the offices of both Kennedy and Rollins to ask about the exclusion of animals on farms from the administration’s new animal welfare agenda, but did not receive replies. 

This story was produced by Sentient and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.