The Pros And Cons Of Factory Farming
Factory farming is a form of farming for livestock in a controlled environment using extreme methods. Factory farming has become awfully popular in today’s world, taking over the traditional farming businesses. This method of farming is a very unhealthy and inhumane way to farm livestock. It is not only harmful to the animals, but to humans as well.
To maintain the export of food needed to keep up with demand, these factory farms need to have large amounts of animals to produce such a high quantity of food in a short amount of time. Therefore, the overcrowding of animals due to confined space happens. For example, they use “…stacked battery cages for laying hens, gestation and fallowing crates that curtail movement for swine to as little as …show more content…
. . crates in which calves being raised for veal cannot lie down with their legs extended” (Pearce 55-56). Another problem with overcrowding animals is that diseases can be easily spread.
Due to an abundance of livestock crammed together, leads to masses of animal waste. Having animals around waste can lead to them contracting many diseases that can be easily spread to other animals. An abundance of animal waste is not only harmful to the livestock, but to humans as well. Animal waste has been known to cause many pollution incidents. For example, “…a single 500-sow farm producing 20 piglets per sow a year creates as much effluent as a town of 25,000 people without a waste treatment system” (When Water Kills par. 6). Very little of this dung is properly treated, regulated, or monitored. Because of this problem, studies show water sources being contaminated as well as the air. Human health is a large concern, due to the …show more content…
The animals being forced to live in these slaughter houses are treated in an inhumane way by the factory farmers, daily. In the swine factories, if they cannot move down the chute quick enough for the workers, the animal will often be beat to death with a lead pipe, this is called piping. Thumping is another unnecessary form of animal abuse that is performed in the swine industry of factory farming. Piglets that have not grown up to standard packing size, often the runts, are picked up by their hind legs, and are smashed head first into the concrete floor. This is often preformed multiple times on just one piglet. These are just a few of the inhumane activities that are performed on the animals used for factory
To maintain the export of food needed to keep up with demand, these factory farms need to have large amounts of animals to produce such a high quantity of food in a short amount of time. Therefore, the overcrowding of animals due to confined space happens. For example, they use “…stacked battery cages for laying hens, gestation and fallowing crates that curtail movement for swine to as little as …show more content…
. . crates in which calves being raised for veal cannot lie down with their legs extended” (Pearce 55-56). Another problem with overcrowding animals is that diseases can be easily spread.
Due to an abundance of livestock crammed together, leads to masses of animal waste. Having animals around waste can lead to them contracting many diseases that can be easily spread to other animals. An abundance of animal waste is not only harmful to the livestock, but to humans as well. Animal waste has been known to cause many pollution incidents. For example, “…a single 500-sow farm producing 20 piglets per sow a year creates as much effluent as a town of 25,000 people without a waste treatment system” (When Water Kills par. 6). Very little of this dung is properly treated, regulated, or monitored. Because of this problem, studies show water sources being contaminated as well as the air. Human health is a large concern, due to the …show more content…
The animals being forced to live in these slaughter houses are treated in an inhumane way by the factory farmers, daily. In the swine factories, if they cannot move down the chute quick enough for the workers, the animal will often be beat to death with a lead pipe, this is called piping. Thumping is another unnecessary form of animal abuse that is performed in the swine industry of factory farming. Piglets that have not grown up to standard packing size, often the runts, are picked up by their hind legs, and are smashed head first into the concrete floor. This is often preformed multiple times on just one piglet. These are just a few of the inhumane activities that are performed on the animals used for factory