Animal Farming In The 1800s

When many Americans think of farm animals they think of pigs rolling in the mud outside, cattle grazing on green grass that goes on for miles, and chickens roaming about in front of a picturesque red barn. Over the past century, the way food animals are raised and fed has changed drastically. The rise of the factory farm industry altered the stereotypical idea of what farms look like and the treatment and health of the animals inside. Factory farming is an industrialized system of producing meat, eggs, and milk in large-scale facilities where the animal is treated as a machine. Since the rise of the modern industrial agriculture system in the early 20th century, the practice of factory farming has raised a lot concern in terms of animal welfare,
In the early 1900s, American agriculture fell into the grip of scientific farming. Agricultural scientists, followed by farmers, began to envision farming as a strictly quantifiable venture. Early farmers preformed chores by hand, and feed for the work animals came from the farm.1 The idea of indoor animal farming arose from poultry houses. These houses allowed the farmers to control the temperature and light needed for chickens to lay their eggs.2 Smaller family farms were more prominent in the early 1900s because of that the need for mass production of meat was unneeded. Individual farms usually fed the family and occasionally other people in the town, however as the population increased so did the demand for meat and dairy products. Poultry was considered a delicacy which paved the way to the formation of broiler chicken-processing plants. These companies used a vertical integration system, controlling all facets of production and
The only reason animals survived in factory farms was because of the development of vitamins and antibiotics.4 Antibiotics enabled hundreds of animals to be crammed together without the risk of disease causing a high number of deaths. The factory farming system strives to produce the most meat, milk, and eggs as quickly and cheaply as possible, in the smallest amount of space possible, and at the lowest possible cost, to maximize productivity and profits. Advances in genetics, housing design, nutrition and waste management allow growth in large-scale operations.5 Technology also improved feed conversion rates by producing heavier live weights but leaner animals. In 1964, author and animal welfare activist Ruth Harrison, wrote a book called Animal Machines which focused on abolishing battery cages and ending factory farming. Her book drew importance to farm animal welfare, need for legal and political action, and the need for scientific research on animals worldwide. Her book started the conflicts surrounding factory farming today: “animals are being taken off the fields and the old lichen covered barns are being replaced by gawky, industrial type buildings into which animals are put, immoblised through density of stocking and often automatically fed and watered. Mechanical cleaning reduces still