Factory
Farming: Mechanized Madness
The green pastures and idyllic barnyard scenes of years past,
which are
still portrayed in children’s books, have been replaced by
windowless
metal sheds, wire cages, gestation crates, and other confinement
systems—what
is now known as “factory farming.”
Farmed animals have no legal protection from horrific abuses
that would
be illegal if they were inflicted on dogs or cats: neglect,
mutilations,
genetic manipulation, and drug regimens that cause chronic pain
and crippling,
transport through all weather extremes, and inhumane slaughter.
Yet farmed
animals are no less interesting, intelligent, or capable of
feeling pain
than are the dogs or cats whom we cherish as companions.
Deprivation and
Disease
The
factory farming system of modern agriculture strives to produce
the most
meat, milk, and eggs as quickly and cheaply as possible, and in
the smallest
amount of space possible. Cows, calves, pigs, chickens, turkeys,
ducks,
geese, rabbits, and other animals are kept in small cages or
stalls, often
unable to turn around. They are deprived of exercise so that all
their
bodies’ energy goes toward producing flesh, eggs, or milk for
human
consumption. They are fed drugs to fatten them faster and are
genetically
altered to grow faster or to produce much more milk or eggs than
they
would naturally.
Because crowding creates a prime atmosphere for disease,
animals on factory
farms are fed and sprayed with huge amounts of pesticides and
antibiotics,
which remain in their bodies and are passed on to the people who
eat them,
creating serious human health hazards. Both the World Health
Organization
and the American Medical Association have supported ending the
use of
antibiotics.(1,2) Although McDonald’s has announced that it will
phase out growth-promoting antibiotics, the fast-food chain is
not likely
to decrease overall antibiotic use.(3) The industry simply
cannot raise
the billions of animals per year that it does in such gruesome
conditions
without the drugs that allow their bodies to survive conditions
that would
otherwise kill them.
Chickens
Chickens
are inquisitive animals, and when in their natural surroundings,
they
form friendships and social hierarchies, recognize one another
and develop
pecking orders, love and care for their young, and enjoy a full
life that
includes dust-bathing, making nests, and roosting in trees. On
the factory
farm, however, chickens are denied these activities.
Laying hens live in battery cages stacked tier upon tier in
huge warehouses.
Confined seven or eight to a cage, they don’t have enough room
to
turn around or spread even one wing. Conveyor belts bring in
food and
water and carry away eggs and excrement. Farmers induce greater
egg production
through “forced molting”: Chickens are denied food and light
for days, which leads to feather and weight loss.(4) To prevent
stress-induced
behaviors caused by overcrowding, such as pecking their
cagemates to death,
hens are kept in semi-darkness, and the ends of their beaks are
cut off
with hot blades (without pain relief). The wire mesh of the
cages rubs
their feathers off, chafes their skin, and cripples their feet.
Chickens
can live for more than a decade, but laying hens on factory
farms are
exhausted and unable to produce as many eggs by the time they
are 2 years
old, so they’re slaughtered.(5,6) More than 100 million “spent”
hens die in slaughterhouses every year.(7) Ninety-eight percent
of the
egg industry’s hens are in cages on factory farms.(8)
Nearly 9 billion “broiler” chickens are raised in sheds each
year.(9) Artificial lighting is manipulated to keep the birds
eating as
often as possible. To keep up with demand and to reduce
production costs,
genetic selection calls for big birds and fast growth (it now
takes only
6 weeks to “grow out” a chick to “processing”
weight), which causes extremely painful joint and bone
conditions.(10)
Undercover investigations into the “broiler” chicken industry
have repeatedly revealed birds who were suffering from
dehydration, respiratory
diseases, bacterial infections, heart attacks, crippled legs,
and other
serious ailments.
At the slaughterhouse, chickens are hung upside-down, their
legs are
snapped into metal shackles, their throats are slit open, and
they are
immersed in scalding hot water for feather removal. They are
often conscious
through the entire process.
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Cattle
Cows
who are left to roam pastures and care for their young form
life-long
friendships with one another and have demonstrated the ability
to be vain,
hold grudges, and play games.(11) But the cows raised for the
meat and
dairy industries are far removed from sun-drenched pastures and
nursing
calves.
Cattle raised for beef may be born in one state, fattened in
another,
and slaughtered in yet another. They are fed an unnatural diet
of high-bulk
grains and other “fillers,” which can include expired dog
and cat food, poultry feces, and leftover restaurant food.(12)
They are
castrated, their horns are ripped out of their heads, and they
have third-degree
burns inflicted on them (branding), all without any pain relief.
During
transportation, cattle are crowded into metal trucks where they
suffer
from trampling, temperature extremes, and lack of food, water,
and veterinary
care. At the slaughterhouse, cattle may be hoisted upside down
by their
hind legs and dismembered while fully conscious. The kill rate
in a typical
slaughterhouse is 400 animals per hour, and “the line is never
stopped
simply because an animal is alive,” says one worker. Calves raised for veal are the male offspring of dairy cows.
They’re
taken from their mothers within a few days of birth and chained
in stalls
only 2 feet wide and 6 feet long with slatted floors.(14) Since
their
mothers’ milk is used for human consumption, the calves are fed
a milk substitute designed to help them gain at least 2 pounds a
day.(15)
The diet is purposely low in iron so that the calves become
anemic and
their flesh stays pale and tender.(16)
Pigs
With
corporate hog factories replacing traditional hog farms, pigs
raised for
food are being treated more as inanimate tools of production
than as living,
feeling animals.
Approximately 100 million pigs are raised and slaughtered in
the U.S.
every year. As babies, they are subjected to painful mutilations
without
anesthesia or pain relievers. Their tails are cut off to
minimize tail
biting, an aberrant behavior that occurs when these
highly-intelligent
animals are kept in deprived factory farm environments. In
addition, notches
are taken out of the piglets' ears for identification. By two to three weeks of age, 15% of the piglets will have
died. Those
who survive are taken away from their mothers and crowded into
pens with
metal bars and concrete floors. A headline from National Hog
Farmer magazine
advises, "Crowding Pigs Pays...", and this is exemplified by
the intense overcrowding in every stage of hog confinement
systems. Pigs
will live this way, packed into giant, warehouse-like sheds,
until they
reach a slaughter weight of 250 pounds at 6 months old.
After the sows give birth and nurse their young for two to
three weeks,
the piglets are taken away to be fattened, and the sows are
re-impregnated.
An article in Successful Farming explains, "Any sow that is not
gestating,
lactating or within seven days post weaning is non-active," and
hog
factories strive to keep their sows '100 % active' in order to
maximize
profits. When the sow is no longer deemed a productive breeder,
she is
sent to slaughter.
Prior to being hung upside down by their back legs and bled to
death
at the slaughterhouse, pigs are supposed to be 'stunned' and
rendered
unconscious, in accordance with the federal Humane Slaughter
Act. However,
stunning at slaughterhouses is terribly imprecise, and often
conscious
animals are hung upside down, kicking and struggling, while a
slaughterhouse
worker tries to 'stick' them in the neck with a knife. If the
worker is
unsuccessful, the pig will be carried to the next station on the
slaughterhouse
assembly line — the scalding tank — where he/she will be boiled,
alive and fully conscious.
Dairy Cows
Traditional
small dairies, located primarily in the Northeast and Midwest,
are going
out of business. They are being replaced by intensive 'dry lot'
dairies,
which are typically located in the Southwest U.S.
Regardless of where they live, however, all dairy cows must
give birth
in order to begin producing milk. Today, dairy cows are forced
to have
a calf every year. Like human beings, cows have a nine-month
gestation
period, and so giving birth every twelve months is physically
demanding.
The cows are also artificially re-impregnated while they are
still lactating
from their previous birthing, so their bodies are still
producing milk
during seven months of their nine-month pregnancy.
With genetic manipulation and intensive production technologies,
it is
common for modern dairy cows to produce 100 pounds of milk a day
—
ten times more than they would produce naturally. As a result,
the cows'
bodies are under constant stress, and they are at risk for
numerous health
problems. Approximately half of the country's dairy cows suffer from
mastitis,
a bacterial infection of their udders. This is such a common and
costly
ailment that a dairy industry group, the National Mastitis
Council, was
formed specifically to combat the disease. Other diseases, such
as Bovine
Leukemia Virus, Bovine Immunodeficiency Virus, and Johne's
disease (whose
human counterpart is Crohn's disease) are also rampant on modern
dairies,
but they commonly go unnoticed because they are either difficult
to detect
or have a long incubation period.
A cow eating a normal grass diet could not produce milk at the
abnormal
levels expected on modern dairies, and so today's dairy cows
must be given
high energy feeds. The unnaturally rich diet causes metabolic
disorders
including ketosis, which can be fatal, and laminitis, which
causes lameness. In a healthy environment, cows would live in excess of
twenty-five years,
but on modern dairies, they are slaughtered and made into ground
beef
after just three or four years. The abuse wreaked upon the
bodies of dairy
cows is so intense that the dairy industry also is a huge source
of "downed
animals" — animals who are so sick or injured that they are
unable to walk even stand. Investigators have documented downed
animals
routinely being beaten, dragged, or pushed with bulldozers in
attempts
to move them to slaughter.
Calves born to dairy cows are separated from their mothers
immediately
after birth. The half that are born female are raised to replace
older
dairy cows in the milking herd. The other half of the calves are
male,
and because they will never produce milk, they are raised and
slaughtered
for meat. Most are killed for beef, but about one million are
used for
veal.
The veal industry was created as a by-product of the dairy
industry to
take advantage of an abundant supply of unwanted male calves.
Veal calves
commonly live for eighteen to twenty weeks in wooden crates that
are so
small that they cannot turn around, stretch their legs, or even
lie down
comfortably. The calves are fed a liquid milk substitute,
deficient in
iron and fiber, which is designed to make the animals anemic,
resulting
in the light-colored flesh that is prized as veal. In addition
to this
high-priced veal, some calves are killed at just a few days old
to be
sold as low-grade 'bob' veal for products like frozen TV
dinners
Eggs
There
are approximately 300 million egg laying hens in the U.S.
confined in
battery cages — small wire cages stacked in tiers and lined up
in
rows inside huge warehouses. In accordance with the USDA's
recommendation
to give each hen four inches of 'feeder space,' hens are
commonly packed
four to a cage measuring just 16 inches wide. In this tiny
space, the
birds cannot stretch their wings or legs, and they cannot
fulfill normal
behavioral patterns or social needs. Constantly rubbing against
the wire
cages, they suffer from severe feather loss, and their bodies
are covered
with bruises and abrasions.
In order to reduce injuries resulting from excessive pecking —
an aberrant behavior that occurs when the confined hens are
bored and
frustrated — practically all laying hens have part of their
beaks
cut off. Debeaking is a painful procedure that involves cutting
through
bone, cartilage, and soft tissue. Laying more than 250 eggs per year each, laying hens' bodies
are severely
taxed. They suffer from "fatty liver syndrome" when their liver
cells, which work overtime to produce the fat and protein for
egg yolks,
accumulate extra fat. They also suffer from what the industry
calls 'cage
layer fatigue,' and many become 'egg bound' and die when their
bodies
are too weak to pass another egg. Osteoporosis is another common ailment afflicting egg laying
hens, whose
bodies lose more calcium to form egg shells than they can
assimilate from
their diets. One industry journal, Feedstuffs, explains, "...the
laying hen at peak eggshell cannot absorb enough calcium from
her diet..."
while another (Lancaster Farming) states, "... a hen will use a
quantity
of calcium for yearly egg production that is greater than her
entire skeleton
by 30-fold or more." Inadequate calcium contributes to broken
bones,
paralysis, and death. After one year in egg production, the birds are classified as
'spent
hens' and are sent off to slaughter. Their brittle,
calcium-depleted bones
often shatter during handling or at the slaughterhouse. They
usually end
up in soups, pot pies, or similar low-grade chicken meat
products in which
their bodies can be shredded to hide the bruises from consumers.
With a growing supply of broiler chickens keeping
slaughterhouses busy,
egg producers have had to find new ways to dispose of spent
hens. One
entrepreneur has developed the 'Jet-Pro' system to turn spent
hens into
animal feed. As described in Feedstuffs, "Company trucks would
enter
layer operations, pick up the birds, and grind them up, on site,
in a
portable grinder... it (the ground up hens) would go to
Jet-Pro's new
extruder-texturizer, the 'Pellet Pro.'"
In one notorious case of extraordinary cruelty at Ward Egg
Ranch in February
2003 in San Diego County, California, more than 15,000 spent
laying hens
were tossed alive into a wood-chipping machine to dispose of
them. Despite
tremendous outcry from a horrified public, the district attorney
declined
to prosecute the owners of the egg farm, calling the use of a
wood-chipper
to kill hens a "common industry practice."
In some cases, especially if the cost of replacement hens is
high, laying
hens may be 'force molted' to extend their laying capacity. This
process
involves starving the hens for up to 18 days, keeping them in
the dark,
and denying them water to shock their bodies into another
egg-laying cycle.
Commonly, between 5 and 10% of birds die during the molt, and
those who
live may lose more than 25% of their body weight.
Another common method of disposing of unwanted male chicks is
grinding
them up alive. This can result in unspeakable horrors, as
described by
one research scientist who observed that "even after twenty
seconds,
there were only partly damaged animals with whole skulls". In
other
words, fully conscious chicks were partially ground up and left
to slowly
and agonizingly die. Eyewitness accounts at commercial
hatcheries indicate
similar horrors of chicks being slowly dismembered by machinery
blades
en route to trash bins or manure spreaders.
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Fish
For millennia, fish have been taken from the world's oceans,
lakes, and
rivers and killed by humans for food. In recent decades,
consumer demand
for seafood has increased in the U.S., while new technologies
have improved
our ability to find and catch fish. Over the latter half of the
20th century,
wild catches have increased by approximately 500% to nearly 100
million
tons per year.
As a result, wild fish populations have been decimated. In
addition to
fish who are caught by factory trawling vessels, other —
economically
useless — sea life are caught and killed in the nets. Called
'by-catch,'
these animals — including non-target fish, sea turtles, sea
lions,
and even dolphins — are thrown back into the water dead or
dying.
The U.S. government estimates more than 100, 000 marine mammals
are killed
every year by the U.S. commercial fishing industry, and
worldwide, it
is thought that approximately one third of wild-caught fish are
considered
'by-catch.'
The life of a farm-raised fish begins in temperature-controlled
hatching
tanks. From here, small fish (called "fry") are transferred
to rearing areas where they grow to maturity. The fish may be
raised in
highly- controlled tanks or raceways (rectangular concrete
enclosures
up to 20 acres in size) constructed inland, or they may be
raised in artificial
enclosures in coastal estuaries. Fish crowded into small areas
are susceptible
to disease and suffocation, as exemplified by an article from
the Cornell
Countryman, which states, "...growing 2,500 pounds of fish in
2,500
gallons of water doesn't give the fish much room to breathe..."Raising fish in crowded, excrement-laden water necessitates the
broad
use of agrichemicals. An FDA Veterinarian article explains that
fish farmers
"use chemicals as disinfectants and to kill bacteria; herbicides
to prevent the overgrowth of vegetation in ponds; vaccines to
fight certain
diseases; and drugs - usually combined in the feed - to treat
diseases
and parasites." In addition, the fish industry insists that "access to spawning
and production hormones is one of the 'essential and critical'
needs of
the U.S. aquaculture industry," as described in Food Chemical
News.
When aquaculture operates in coastal estuaries, the chemicals
and waste
products it generates pollute and destroy vast expanses of
valuable and
increasingly rare estuaries every year. When they reach market weight, aquaculture fish are loaded into
oxygenated
tanker trucks bound for the kill plant. Needless to say, this is
a very
stressful process. Feedstuffs comments, "Conventional pond
harvest
methods, such as pond draw-down or seining (the use of nets),
often severely
stress or damage fish." Upon arriving at the processing plant, the tanker trucks pour
their cargo
— water and fish — into large, metal, mesh cages. As the water
pours through, fish who have survived the ordeal of "harvest"
and transportation die of suffocation.
The ability of fish to feel pain and distress is given so
little consideration
that in some restaurants, fish are actually eaten alive —
eviscerated,
filleted, and delivered to the serving table. The eyes are
covered so
that the fishes will not see and react to diners reaching for
parts of
their bodies.
http://www.animalliberationfront.com/Practical/FactoryFarm/factory_farming.htm
These animals have no
voice, so we need to be theirs. Their freedom, sociability and quality of life is striped. They spend their whole lives in these cages and pens
around the country for the sake of their meat. Calves have it real hard, they can't even move in their crates so society can eat veal. I have not eaten veal in 14 years. These animals DO
deserve better.
In
a case of the fox guarding the henhouse, the North Carolina Department
of Agriculture is under fire for compromising a criminal animal cruelty
investigation at a Butterball turkey factory farm after an official for the agency admitted to warning the company days prior to a raid by state law enforcement officials. 
These
animals may not be as familiar to us, but they are just as capable of
pain and suffering as zebras and tigers are. 
Cows
Female pigs
Chickens spend their entire lives crammed in cages so small they’re
barely able to move. They lose their feathers and their skin turns red
and raw from rubbing against the wire walls. To keep them from pecking
each other in frustration, factory workers slice off chicks’ beaks with
a hot blade, sometimes taking part of their tongues or faces with it. 
CHICKENS
PIGS:
DAIRY COWS & VEAL CALVES
HENS
TURKEYS
Animals are caught from birth in the grip of
the massive machinery of this industry, one that treats them like
inanimate products--totally ignoring their status as sentient beings.
They live a nightmarish life. Many die from disease and stress before
reaching the slaughterhouse. For others, even the slaughterhouse does
not bring a quick death, as many people mistakenly believe. Animals can
survive the initial stages of the slaughter process, which means they
are alive and conscious when they being skinned, dismembered or scalded
in boiling water. 
Pigs are smart, and many of the beliefs
surrounding them, such as their uncleanliness, are myths. In factory
farms, pigs are born onto concrete then penned behind steel bars for the
rest of their live. That is all they'll ever know. They get no
exercise. They see no sunshine. They are forced to breath choking
ammonia from their waste. They live in a constant state of over-crowding
and stress.
Hens are like machines for producing meat and
eggs. Male chicks of egg-laying chicken breeds are of no use to the egg
industry, so on the day they hatch, they are left to suffocate in
plastic bags or killed by other means, including being ground up for
feed.
Hens also have to breath air full of, among
other things, ammonia fumes and dust. They suffer skin, respiratory
problems, growths, infections, and blindness. Their confinement also
produces weak muscles and bone brittleness, which results in broken
bones.
Cattle are subjected to unnatural and crowded
living conditions as well. They are branded, castrated and dehorned.
They are feed unnatural diets that lead to a whole host of health
problems--indeed, it is through eating artificial feed that cattle
contract mad cow disease.
In addition to restricting the animals' movement, veal
producers severely limit what their animals can eat. The calves are fed
an all liquid milk-substitute which is purposely deficient in iron and
fiber. It is intended to produce borderline anemia and the pale colored
flesh fancied by 'gourmets'. At approximately sixteen weeks of age,
these weak animals are slaughtered and marketed as "white" veal (also
known as "fancy", "milk-fed", "special fed", and "formula fed" veal).
Besides the expensive veal which comes from calves who are kept in small
wooden crates, "bob" veal is the flesh of calves who may be slaughtered
at just a few hours or days old. While these calves are spared
intensive confinement, they are still subjected to inhumane transport,
handling, and slaughter, and many die before reaching the
slaughterhouse.
What is the
fate of a sow’s young, innocent offspring? Ten percent of the piglets
die even before their separation from their mothers. Runts or
under-developed piglets are considered unprofitable and are killed on
site by a method called “thumping.” This is when the baby is slammed
head first with as much force as possible into a concrete floor. 
Poor ventilation in their quarters means that
respiratory problems and disease are rampant. They are forced to live
among their own excrement and the dead, decaying bodies of other pigs.
In these conditions, seventy-percent of pigs develop pneumonia and more
than a quarter develop mange, a parasitic infection of the skin. 
Because
the male chicks of egg-laying breeder hens are unable to lay eggs and
are not bred to
produce excessive flesh for the meat industry, they are killed.
Every year, more than 100 million
of these young birds are ground up alive or tossed into bags to
suffocate.
