In a free market economy the consumer and not the producer usually dictates the product and the means of production. Meat production however involves, as a third party, the animals themselves whose rights are not protected by the free market. To ensure and improve the welfare of farm animals it is necessary first to define and analyse the factors that contribute to an animal's sense of health and well-being. The first stage of analysis can be embraced by the five freedoms which define standards of nutrition, comfort, health, security and normal behaviour. Right action to ensure the five freedoms requires research, legislation and education. This paper suggests reasons why the contribution of research and legislation to improved welfare has, so far, been small. It further suggests that proposed future legislation may be too crude an instrument to ensure improvements in something so complex as an animal's perception of the world. The most promising approach is to educate the consumer towards an understanding of animal production that is more in tune with reality and less susceptible to imagery, be it the false ‘farm fresh’ image of the producers or the ‘factory’ image of the anti-farming lobby. My simple plea is for honesty in animal production, an honesty that recognizes the realities of pain and death but which allows both the farmer and his animals to live with dignity.