Factory farms are exactly what you think they are. Animals are treated cruelly for the exploitation of meat, milk and eggs. Labels such as “free range,” “free roaming,” and “cage free” does not mean the animals are treated humanely, and animal suffering happens despite what the label says.
Factory Poultry
“Cage free” laying hens are not required to have access to the outdoors and “free range” and “free roaming” hens can have severely restricted and poorly designed outdoor access. Under these labels, there are no limits on flock size or outdoor regulations. Most birds also have to endure:
- Overcrowding: Egg laying hens are crowded by the thousands in large barns.
- Debeaking: Most hens slated for egg production have the ends of their beaks removed without anesthesia
- Inhumane culling: Male chicks and hens that stop laying are unwanted and killed. Common methods of killing include suffocation and being ground up alive.
- Genetic alteration: Chickens and turkeys have been genetically altered to grow twice as fast and twice as large. There is no prohibition on the use of genetically altered birds in “free range” farms.
Slaughter: Even if the bird was “free-range,” they can still end up at the same slaughterhouses that kills factory raised birds. Although poultry are specifically excluded from the federal Humane Slaughter Act, many slaughter plants stun the birds in an electrified water bath in order to immobilize them. However, stunning procedures are often inadequate and they can still feel pain as they move onto the actual slaughter. Next the birds are hung upside down where their throats are slashed by a mechanical blade. Inevitably, the blade misses some birds and they move to the next station intact. Finally, the birds are put into a scalding tank
Factory Beef
Life of a female cow: Cows only produce milk when they give birth. The minute they give birth the calves are taken away. At about two months into their lactation cycle, dairy cows are usually re-impregnated to keep the milk flowing. This can obviously be very taxing on a cow’s body and their bodies usually wear out in a couple of years. Like most animals who stop producing, they are sent to slaughter.
Life of a male cow: Male calves born on dairies have no real value and are sent to slaughter, or worse, are kept alive for about four months and chained inside dark crates. Their chains restrict movement so the meat is extra tender when they are slaughtered and sold as veal.
Slaughter: A beef slaughterhouse kills about 250 cattle every hour. The assembly line makes it increasingly difficult to treat animals humanely. Cattle are suppose to be “stunned” by a mechanical blow to the head. However, this step is terribly inaccurate. As a result, the cows are strung up by their back legs alive while they are then ”stuck” in the throat with a knife. As the blood drains from their bodies they continue on. Some cows stay alive as far as the tail cutter, the belly ripper, and the hide puller. Piece by piece they die a terrible death.
Factory Pork
Life: Pigs are no different then chickens or cows. They are treated like piglet-making machines by being impregnated again and again. Each sow has more than 20 piglets per year. Once they are impregnated, the sows are confined in gestation crates that prevent them from turning around or even lying down comfortably. At the end of their pregnancies, they are transferred to similar crates to give birth. The lack of room in these crates create sores on their shoulders and knees. When confronted about this fact, one pork industry representative wrote, “…straw is very expensive and there certainly would not be a supply of straw in the country to supply all the farrowing pens in the U.S.” The unnatural flooring and lack of exercise produces neurotic coping behaviors such as repetitive bar biting and sham chewing (chewing nothing). After the sows give birth they nurse their young for two to three weeks. The piglets are then taken away to be fattened, and the sows go through the cycle of pregnancy and birth once again.
The piglets are packed into giant factory farms until they reach a slaughter weight of 250 pounds at 6 months old. In the US, approximately 105 million pigs are raised and slaughtered every year.
Slaughter: Like cows, pigs are supposed to be “stunned” and rendered unconscious. It’s no different in a pork slaughter house. The stunning is not accurate and they are hung upside down, kicking and struggling, while a slaughterhouse worker tries to slit their neck. If the worker is unsuccessful, the pig will be carried by it’s feet to the next station.
Factory Fish
Life: Farm-raised fish has doubled over the past decade and is “one of the fastest growing food producing sectors.” Today, approximately one in five fish consumed worldwide is farm-raised.
Farm-raised fish start off in temperature-controlled hatching tanks. From there, small fish are transferred to large enclosed areas where they grow to maturity. Fish crowded into small areas can suffer from disease and suffocation. Since there are so much fish in one area, fish farmers use chemicals, herbicides vaccines, and drugs.
Slaughter: When they reach market weight, fish go to the kill plant. The fish are then put into large metal, mesh cages where the water leaks out and they die from suffocation.
Food For Thought
Regardless of the welfare standards followed at any farm, all the animals will be slaughtered at young ages:
- Chickens- 42 days when they could live 4 years or more
- Pigs- 6 months when they could live 9 years or more
- Beef cattle- at less than two years when they could live 20 years or more
- Dairy cows- at 4 to 6 years when they could live 25 years
- Veal calves -at only four months
No matter how well they are treated, these animals’ lives are cut short. It just goes to show that when animals are seen primarily as production units or commodities for sale, the animals’ welfare tends to be secondary to economic concerns.