Over the years, it seems as if the agricultural industry has been more focused on the quantity, more than quality. As a society, we have been manipulated by companies into thinking we are eating all natural ingredients. Before companies started serving our foods with chemicals, authentic food came from animals that were free to roam on pastures and that were freshly cut and packaged. Now the food comes from a factory farm, which is when animals are treated as if they were machines designed only to produce.
Factory farming has a negative impact on animals, human health and the environment. As consumers, we should be in control of what we want in our food; and to do so, we should cut down on how much we buy from the markets. Factory farming is the number one animal cruelty in the world today. Factory farms have turned living, breathing animals into nothing more than production units. Factory farms are more focused on the value of production and the profit over all the aspects of farming. Since there is such a high demand for meats and eggs, more animals are suffering.
Life on a factory farm for animals is unnecessary discomfort, stress, and pain on their bodies. The animals are kept in a tight and enclosed warehouse where they are unable to move around. The animals do not get exposure to any sunlight and will also spend the rest of their lives in these tight cages. Studies have shown “without room to engage in their natural behaviors confined animals experience serve physical and mental distress” (ASPCA). In factory farms, animals are exposed to surgical mutilations, abnormal growth, reproduction and their lives are shortened.
The animals are exposed to surgical mutilations which means the animals undergo painful surgery without any painkillers to their tails, testicles, horns and toes. Also, female animals spend most of their life span being pregnant, which puts stress and pain on their bodies. For example, mother pigs that are raised in the factory farms live their lives in confinement. During her pregnancy, the mother pig is kept in a tight confined space so she will not crush her babies. When the “farmers” keep the mother pigs in a confined space, it causes them to act abnormally and to become depressed.
These actions indicate the pig is having a hard time with the environment and that the welfare is unhealthy. When the suffering mother has her babies, the piglets are immediately removed from their mothers and placed in a narrow stall. When the piglets are separated from their mother they will have their tails and teeth clipped. Pigs use their tail to communicate and without their tails it impairs the pig’s natural behavior. These factory farms should not be allowed to treat the animals this way. Animals are not the only ones suffering.
Human health and the environment are also being affected by the factory farms as well. The current industrial food system is impacting your health in many ways, such as having excessive hormones and antibodies in your everyday foods. When factory farms house the animals in these confined spaces, it is a greater chance for a disease to spread. Also, when the animals are bloated with hormones, humans are at risk for chronic diseases, obesity and drugresistant bacteria. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, cows are given multiple hormones to make them produce more milk and meat.
The multiple hormones that are used on the cows have been “shown to significantly increase the risk of breast, prostate, and colon cancer in beef consumers” (Farm Sanctuary). In the United States, the antibodies are frequently used and “using antibiotics in this way can lead to drug-resistant bacteria. As a result, certain bacterial infections have already become untreatable in humans” (Food Sanctuary). While the animals are being given the antibodies, animals are placed in confined spaces which can cause diseases to uprise due to overcrowding.
For example, a couple of years ago the United States had an outbreak of the H1N1 (Swine flu). According to researcher Michael Greger, this outbreak came from housing the pigs in tight contaminated spaces. Compacting the animals in these types of environments is only hurting the company’s product. Factory farm’s meat could also be contaminated by packing the cattle into these feedlots full of manure and bacteria. The pathogens from the feedlot could enter the animal’s body and into the slaughter house. As a result, if one animal is contaminated then all of the meat that was slaughtered in the factory is now contaminated.
When the factory farms hold the animals in these confined spaces and unsanitary conditions, it can lead to thousands of pounds of meat being infected, which could end in a consumer’s refrigerator. Factory farms are the number one contributors to environmental problems such as land destruction, air and water pollution, acid rain, polluting the soil, disturbing habitats and loss of fresh water. Factory farms hold many animals in the feedlots. To house all of the animals, the factory needs to clear and destroy land to make room for housing the livestock and for crops.
This is unfair to the helpless animals that lost their natural habitat for a factory farm. The factory farm can also endanger the environment by not properly cleaning after the animals. The animals can produce as much waste as a U. S. large city. In the United States alone, “animals raised on factory farms generate more than 1 million tons of manure per day, which is three times the amount generated by the country’s human population” (Farm Sanctuary). The manure is stored in large lagoons in which most are the size of two football fields.
When the lagoon reaches its capacity, the farmers are supposed to transport the manure to the proper facility. Instead, they dispose the manure into surrounding areas, killing other animals and releasing toxins into the clean water. When the factory farmers do not properly dispose of the waste, it can pollute the soil and water that floats into the ocean. These are all common examples of how factory farms affect the environment. Although many people disagree with factory farming, there are some to believe factory farming is not an issue.
According to David Leyonhjelm, a registered officer in the agricultural business, he explains, there is such a high demand for meat and dairy; the livestock production will be essential to meet the increased demand. In about ten years, researchers believe “meat consumption will rise by 73% and dairy consumption by 58%” (Opposing Viewpoints). Many people assume factory farming is a notorious thing because of the word “factory”. David Leyonhjelm states, factory farming is just a term for efficient large production.
As the factory farms continue to grow, more animals are being placed in the fields and not enough workers to manage the animals. To keep the livestock healthy and productive, the farmers use an excessive amount of machinery. When the publicist sees all the machinery they make their own assumptions about how the animals are being treated in the factory farms. The factory farms companies are trying to move the meat and dairy as quickly as possible to please the consumers, so there is no time to give each chicken their individual name.
The factory farms have a job to meet the demand of the population. Factory farms are accused of placing the chickens in confined spaces, growing them at an unnatural rate, giving them antibiotics, unable to engage in natural behaviors, and slaughtered under inhumane conditions. This acquisition is false, the factory farmers do not get paid unless they are treating the animals with care. One of the reasons why someone pursues farming is because they have the desire to be with animals. According to David Leyonhjelm, the factory farms are more humane than the small scale farms.
If the animals were not being treated with the proper care, then the animals would drop like flies. The livestock in the factory farms is protected from wind, snow, rain, heat and cold, and safe from the wild animals. Placing the animals in the factory farms allows the breeding process to be less stressful and the farmers will be able to take care and protect the young animals. While they are being protected in the warehouses, the animals are given a constant balanced diet and they are provided with plenty of fresh water.
Factory farms are there to protect the livestock and still treat them with care while providing quality meat and dairy for the consumers. The last thing the factories want to do is cause the livestock discomfort, stress, and diseases. The factory farms are equipped with technology and farmers that can do everything they can to ensure they lead a stress and diseasefree life. Many are lead to believe the livestock is given antibiotics to promote growth, but antibiotics are every expensive.
If the animals are not growing at the proper rate then the animal’s diet is unbalanced, the animals will not be given any hormones or antibiotics to increase their growth rate. They are given vitamins and minerals approved by the U. S. Food and Drug Administration to balance their diet. Also the chicken’s beaks are trimmed, they are not cut off; the beaks are only trimmed to prevent the chickens from pecking other chickens’. They are still able to eat and properly function. The factory farms will not confine the livestock and overflow the animals into tight spaces, this will inhibit growth rates and cause other issues to the livestock.
It is shown that cage-free animals take more medication for diseases than an animal in the factory. The cage-free animal is exposed more to litter and wastes. Lastly, factory farms does not pollute the water surrounding them with waste. The farms are demanded to contain the manure in an approved engineered storage structure. Famers are required to inspect the manure storage to make sure it does not overflow into the surrounding areas. The publicist promotes how bad factory farming can be, but the livestock is actually in better hands.
Our society has led us to believe the meat and dairy we eat comes from a happy animals grazing the pastures, chickens roaming the fields, and pigs playing in mud, but that is all a fantasy. The animals that are on the farms live terrible lives, they are raised in confined dark spaces, given antibiotics, and have surgical mutilations. Just imagine you are a farm animal; cow, pig, chicken being raised in a confined dark space.
The cages are suffocating you and there is no way out of there, all you can think of is why am I here? Next, they lead you and the ther animals out to the trucks and the next stop is a bloody room filled with beaks and feathers on the ground and an inhumane “farmer” waiting for you to get off the truck. That is a scary filling to have. I believe there could be a better way to produce meat and dairy at an essential rate to meet the demand. Animals in these factory farms go through a lot of pain just to produce for consumers. Animals have rights too, and it should not be this way.
There was an article by ….. and he explained how frama was made in france. He came up with the dea of letting the geese grow natural. I’m sure there is a scientist in the U. S. that can come up with a better way to produce more meat and dairy for our massive population. I understand people need their meat and dairy products but people should also see how our animals are suffering. It is not just about helping the animals, but it’s about having healthier meats and dairy products. So as a society we should get together and try to find a resolution to have healthier meats and a better environment for the other animals as well.
