Fast Food Epidemic: BLog #11

Factory Farming

What if you were told that you could fly to Brazil to a beautiful land in exchange for your cooking? but instead you were sent to Brazil kidnapped, fed drugs, sexually abuse then murdered after you were saw to be no longer useful. Well people do it everyday to our food; Animals. The government has allowed factory farming to buy animals fly them across the country, unwillingly breed them, and do atrocious procedures then slaughter them. Animals such as cattle, chickens, ruminants and other farm animals have to deal with these traumatizing problems everyday. Factory farming should be banned due to its production of animal cruelty.

There are many different types of housing systems for animals depending on the species and the procedure being done for consumption. Farmers choose housing either extensively or intensively, which means outside (free-style) or inside (confinement). Now farmers house in confinement either intensively or extensively. Factory farmers confinement at a sufficient production rate is one part of a systematic effort to produce

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the highest output at the lowest cost by relying on economies of scale, modern machinery, biotechnology, and global trade. They are crammed by thousands of other animals into filthy, windowless sheds and confined to wire cages, gestation crates, barren dirt lots, and other cruel confinement systems. They are also kept in small cages or jam-packed sheds or on filthy feedlots, often with so little space that they can’t even turn around or lie down comfortably.

One of the farm animals that have to deal with these problems are Pigs. Before the 72 hours of the piglets being born they are demanded to get their needle teeth clipped, tail docked, get their ear notched and administer iron. Because factory farming is intensive pigs are suppose to get their needle teeth clipped to prevent fighting with each other. Their tails are chopped off to prevent other pigs from biting it off. Ear notching is a horrific way factor farmers use to keep count of their piglets; by cutting of pieces of each piglets ears.(picture “A” shown on below). Pigs are also one of the animals that use gestation crates, instead they're called Farrowing crates. Farrowing crates are small (5 x 7 inch) crate the limits the mobility of female pigs during her feeding or delivery of her young. Farrowing crates has a censor that blows very cold air on the piglets when the mother stands up, to prevent the mother from moving.

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They are used to feed piglets and are very effective for confinement. This can be harmful to the animals because baby pigs are born with a low iron count and can lead to an iron deficiency if the mother doesn't mind the breeze. By two to three weeks of age, 15% of the piglets will have died from these procedures. Those who survive are taken away from their mothers and crowded into metal-barred and concrete-floored pens in giant warehouses. Pigs live in these pens until they reach 6 months of age, usually 250 pounds.Pigs aren’t allowed to provide for their piglets naturally. They are given unhealthy high protein foods to gain a lot of weight fast. Factory farming has limited a pigs access on natural essentials of life such as personal space and freedom.

Ruminants also suffer with the abuse because of factory farming. Ruminants are animals multi-chambered stomachs such as sheep, goats and llamas. Sheep are primarily used for meat but is also used for wool, milk and mohair. They are slaughtered very young from six to eight because consumers prefer lamb. Sheep and goat are tail docked to prevent from flystrike. Tail dock is simply cutting the tail off. Flystrike is when the animal’s tail isn’t cleaned after urinating or defecating, flies sit there and lay nest and causes several problems for the animal. Since factory farmers use confinement housing, it is too time consuming to simply cutting around the tail (which is what was normally done in normal farms) so

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farmers just cut the tail off. Some goats are born hornless, called a polled goat. Those arent polled are disbudded. Disbudding is a procedure the places a electric hot iron that burns the horn off and the corneal nerve around it.(Picture “B” below) This procedure is very painful for the animals. They are demanded to give the animal anaesthetics before the procedure takes place. Ruminants are disbudded to prevent them from attacking farmers and other ruminants. Another way factory farming causes animal cruelty in ruminants, is by the dipping procedure. Since factory farming uses confinement, if one animals catches something so will the others; to prevent the loss of production farmers must dip. Dipping is when farmers places the animal's entire body in a tank of insecticide to prevent from ectoparasite. According to the ieatmeat goat management page, 95% of ruminants drown from this procedure. Factory farmers do whatever it takes to increase production.

The biggest milk and meat industry comes from cattle. Cattle are Cows, Bulls and Veal. Cows used by the dairy industry are intensively confined, continually impregnated, and bred for high milk production with little concern for their well-being. Cows that are used for beef are killed within one to three years old. Veal is one of the worst treated cows. Veal is male calves that are fed poorly and lack exercise deliberately. Veal is known for being very tender meat so if it gets alot of excercise it wont be.

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Cows are also disbudded but its called debudding. Cows are milked 305 days a year and is dried off for 60 days around the time she gives birth. In factory farming Cows are bred naturally and through artificial insemination. Artificial insemination is an artificial hormone that is implanted into the cows ear or skin to continuously breed the cow. Cows are also injected with bovine growth hormone (BGH) to increase the production of milk. Some cows die from the overproduction of milk or infection of mammary glands (utters).(Picture “C” below).Cows even go through painful procedures for labeling them. When having a confined farm its hard to differentiate animals so they use labeling such as ear tagging, branding, spectum rings (Used for bulls) and tattooing.

I understand some people believe that humans need meat to survive or just have religious reasons for why they eat meat.Yes, Meat isn't unhealthy (depending on how its made) however, there are many ways to be an ethical meat-eater.It might be a bit expensive but buying free-range eggs and chicken can make a big change.There are many vitamins that can be consumed as a meateaters such as Iron,Zinc, Magnesium and Vitamin B12. Iron helps our bodies produce two essential proteins: hemoglobin and myoglobin. Hemoblogin delivers oxygen to your cells, and the myoglobin in muscle cells accepts and uses it.Vegetables contain iron but consuming plants gives your body nonheme iron, a version less easily absorbed by the

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body. Heme iron is the better type that only comes from life forms with hemoglobin, such as red meat, pork, poultry, and fish. According to the World Health Organization, over 30% of the globe suffers from iron deficiency, which leads to fatigue, decreased immune function, and overall crankiness. I love animals. There are many benefits from eating meat so I'm not willing to sacrifice my happiness for theirs.Being a vegetarian isn't that effective for our health, As a consumer we all need to make conscious choices to lessen the negative effect on the animal community.

In the factory farming industry these loving and intelligent animals routinely suffer inhumane treatment throughout their lives and are gruesomely slaughtered for human consumption.Intensive housing can be very advantageous for farmers , but the ideal idea for consumers should be Quality v.s. Quantity. Factory farmers Cut pieces of Pig’s ears to label them, Overfeed and inject drugs cows to produce more milk,Burn Ruminants horns and Pierce bulls noses; all for humans ;the consumer. I believe if the world knew what was happening to our animals they wouldn't eat the meat.