The group says the advertisements to be aired on radio will highlight to the general public the treatment of 11 million battery hens and 200,000 sows.

The commercial is a play on the children's song "Old MacDonald had a farm" but claims that for most breeding pigs and laying hens in Australia the lives "they endure are a far cry from the happy images evoked by the song".

"Factory farming is inherently cruel," executive director of Animals Australia Glenys Oogjes said.

"There is no excuse for confining animals so that they are barely able to move.

"There is no excuse for subjecting them to surgical procedures without pain relief, and consumers are never going to accept methods of farming that deny animals all quality of life."

Animals Australia says it will "dramatically increase" its campaigns against factory farming during 2010.

"Every time we highlight the cruelty of factory farming financial support floods in to keep our campaigns on air," Ms Oogjes said.

"They recognise as we do that it is outrageous that 'production' animals are being denied the same legal protection afforded to dogs and cats when we know that their ability to suffer is the same."