According to the USDA Foreign Agricultural Services, worldwide there is an estimated 42.4 billion chickens, cattle and pigs are raised for food per year. Most of these animals originate from factory farms, in which they are exploited and abused for a large accumulation of profit. According to F.A.R.M, an estimated 99 percent of animal products have origins from factory farms. These large-scale factory farms are often referred to as “Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO) in the factory farming industry” (Gruen, L. & Jones, R., 2015). Factory farms pose a deadly threat to animals, mankind and the environment in the name of contemptible production and profit.
It is not uncommon for people to believe that animals in factory farms are treated humanely up to slaughter. However, animals on these large-scale farms are often victims of corrupted animal welfare. According to The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, in order to save costs due to the excessive demand for animal products, the animals are often confined to small crates, cages and pens, barely larger than their own bodies. These animals are usually poorly fed, have malnourishing diets, as well as poor air quality and living conditions. In addition, they are often forced to have physical altercations, such as teeth or beak clipping and tail docking, without anesthetics, in order to gain a surplus of profit. As well as they
are usually given antibiotics to grow faster and larger and end up developing physical deformities such as the inability to stand or eat properly due to this.
Imagine after a lifetime of abuse in a small crate being sent onto a truck with no idea where it will take you. “When the animals are ready for slaughter, they are sent on overcrowded trucks, forced to be either extremely hot or cold, for up to 2,000 miles at times (The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals).” These horrific conditions are used to minimize production costs, despite the abuse of animal welfare. Once they reach the slaughterhouse, they are shocked with electric prods or other procedures meant to paralyze the animal, then their throats are cut open to bleed out to death. Unfortunately, former slaughterhouse workers claim to PETA that “the animals sometimes will stay conscious and alert after being paralyzed, and can still be alive minutes after their throat is cut.”
Often times, many consumers claim that they buy “happy meat”, this is alleged to have been originated from happy and humanely treated animals, or “free-range”, “grass-fed animal products, in order to reduce and eliminate cruelty. However, these farms that utilize these delusional phrases are just as cruel as standard factory farms that do not use these practices. These farms will still mistreat animals by using cages and crates, as well as mutilations and altercations, so that they can “correct” the animal’s natural behaviors for mankind’s exploitation. Free-range animals, especially hens, are still being imprisoned indoors, never to see sunlight, despite what the labels may dictate. These phrases are used in a way that both farm owners and deluded consumers can remoralize this industry under a false pretense of ethical treatment.
The factory farming industry escalates past the meat industry, and includes the dairy and egg industries, as well as leather, wool and fur industries. When born on an egg farm, baby male chicks are ground up alive shortly after birth, and female chicks have their beaks mutilated
without anesthetics. On dairy farms, calves are taken away from their mother shortly after birth, and males are sold to be slaughtered for veal. Female calves are artificially inseminated and kept pregnant their entire life as a dairy cow. Once these animals can no longer provide milk or eggs, they are slaughtered for meat. This is the standard practice for all large-scale farms that produce eggs and dairy.
On leather, fur, and wool farms, animals are still tortured and exploited, and these farms are still considered to be factory farms. These animals are still kept in small crates and cages, and are killed for the single goal of consumption and profit. According to PETA, eyewitnesses claim that animals raised for fur are often skinned alive, or beaten to death. These farms, in particular leather farms, produce hazardous chemicals, and are a primary factor of contamination and pollution in the environment, including air, water, soil, etc.
Humanity no longer needs to exploit animals on farms at such high numbers, as humanity can now live primarily on a plant-based, vegan lifestyle. This lifestyle, in which refutes exploitation of animals and factory farms, is compatible with humanity and the majority of people. Adopting this lifestyle, according to multiple studies, may help increase your lifespan, due to less cholestrol and fat levels, as well as having a stronger immune system. With our advanced medicine, the majority of people can receive all their vitamins and nutrients needed without the use of animal products. According to Cactus student Haddeel Al Tekretti, “American physician, author and professional speaker Dr. Greger has studied the effects of animal products in the body, and has proven that animal products may weaken the immune system and the ability to fight cancer cells.” Dr. Greger, also the founder of NutritionFacts.org, has also found that those who follow a plant-based diet are eight times more likely to have the ability to fight cancer cells and decrease the risk of cancer.
The vegan, plant-based lifestyle, and avoiding products of factory farms, also benefits the general public’s health and security. Not eating animal products, especially those of factory farm origin, can decrease your risk of diseases and prescription drug use. This lifestyle helps contribute less to worker exploitation, with fewer workers facing occupational safety hazards often common on these farms, since this will decrease the demand for factory farm products. This decreased demand will also reduce contribution to climate change, deforestation, species extinction, etc., and likewise leads to less agriculture for animals, and more for humanity.
Other solutions are prevalent in order to decrease factory farm abuse, such as buying local animal products or decreasing personal consumption. However, the best alternative is to refute purchasing animal products from factory farms, and to purchase high-protein, plant-based products. It is also encouraged that more people become educated on the subject of factory farms. According to Mercy for Animals, there few laws placed to protect farm animals. The United States has implemented the Humane Slaughter Act, in which is placed to decrease the amount of suffering for only cows, sheep, horses and pigs, and does not protect birds or fish, or the Earth’s environment. In addition, the Humane Slaughter Act is also not greatly enforced, and it is common for farms to break these laws. More laws need to be implemented and strictly enforced against factory farms to protect all animal suffering, as well as to decrease agricultural and environmental impacts.
Many will hold opposing claims, especially regarding the idea of mankind converting to a plant-based lifestyle. These claims are valid due to the fact that some diets require animal proteins, and it can become life-threatening to avoid nutritional necessities. Others are not concerned with factory farms or animal welfare, and may find this idea to be obscure and impossible. It should be known that no matter how much vegans attempt to avoid animal
products, there are still animal products used or found in candles, rubber, marshmallows, vitamins, deodorants, house paint, etc. However, if people are able to decrease the demand for animal products as much as possible, we can eventually move away from factory farms, leading to improved animal and environmental welfare.
In addition, not all farms, including those classified as factory farms, are abusive to their animals. According to Dairy Farmers of Canada, “the majority of dairy farmers do not harm or abuse cows and the way some dairy farms led to be portrayed aren’t always true. For many dairy farmers, their top priority is the welfare of the cows, and they attempt to provide the best conditions and veterinary care possible. The abuse shown in videos and articles of dairy farms, such as their babies being taken away and being physically hurt, sickens most dairy farmers who do the correct practice”. It is also believed that almost all farms are classified as factory farms, but according to a recent report by the USDA, 97 percent of American farms are classified as “family farms”. This classification includes any farm with a Gross Cash Farm Income (GCFI) below $350,000. While some of these include smaller-scale factory farms, especially since this classification includes farms that employ workers, a reported 58% of these small farm sales are family-owned and functioned farms. In opposition, the report does state that large scale farms, in which is composed of mainly large-profited factory farms, with a Gross Cash Farm Income (GCFI) over $1 million produce over 64% of meat, eggs, dairy and vegetable sales.
Looking at the future of Earth and society without any solution to this ongoing issue of factory farming is very grim and upsetting. Farm animals, when densely populated, emit high levels of methane, a greenhouse gas that has contributed greatly to climate change. Scientists have estimated that approximately two to three billion more people will be born within the next upcoming decades, leading to a population of up to ten billion. Unless humanity decreases the
amount of factory farms and farm animal population, we will face even more detrimental environmental damages. While we may not be able to completely dismantle the existence of factory farms in the next upcoming decades, we can work to decrease the power and profit these farms have. This is crucial so that sustainability for future generations will be possible.
When the subject of factory farm abuse comes to most people’s minds, many find the topic to be hazy and void. However, it is a subject of great worth and value, and one regarding great concern. When the United States was founded, we established the core values of the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for all people regardless of their differences. Why shouldn’t animals be given the right to live and liberty without mankind’s exploitation and abuse? While this thought may be viewed as obscene and ridiculous, the similarities between man and animal are not as low as one may think. Despite the differences between man and animal, both are living creatures, who do not deserve to be abused and exploited on large-scale farms that harm the environment and mankind as well.
