Behind the Scenes of Factory Farming Essay Example

📌Category: Animals, Environment
📌Words: 1503
📌Pages: 6
📌Published: 06 June 2021

Most people think of a farm as a small, family-owned organization, maybe in the middle of nowhere. It is known as a place where the sun is beaming on the cows and the horses grazing on the lush green grass, and the chickens are gathered around the yard waiting for their daily meal. However, the reality of modern farming is completely different and most people do not even realize it. Most modern farms and slaughterhouses do a process called “factory farming”. The actual definition of factory farming is “intensive animal farming or industrial livestock production”. Animals, specifically livestock, have been mistreated for a very long time. Most animals in farms and/or slaughterhouses do not contain any rights because society and large corporations only see them as a money-making product. These corporations are only seeking out the maximum profit regardless of the environment, society's health, or the animals.

The reason these corporations are able do these things is because it does not concern most people and they only care about getting food no matter where it comes from. There are many reasons why people should care about factory farming. One reason is because animals are living in dangerous and horrendous conditions. A lot of animals are caged in and not able to walk or turn around. Another reason is because the majority of the animals are being killed for no reason. For example, in the United States approximately 20 million and 40 million birds and other animals are killed for research every year. Factory farming should be stopped because animals are treated in horrible conditions, and it affects the environment and society’s health. 

Factory Farming should be stopped because the animals are living in horrendous conditions. In farms, animals are supposed to be able to live freely, and be able to run, jump, and play. However, today’s animals never get to because of their living conditions. For example, an “overwhelming majority of these animals have spent their entire lives confined inside sheds, never going outdoors for a single hour” (Singer 1). This statement shows that due to the animals only there to make money, farm owners do not care where or how the animals are living. These animals are not suffering for a short amount of time, their suffering lasts their entire life. One of the main animals that are raised on farms are chickens. Chickens are treated worse than any other animals because of their size and the abundance of their population. For example, chickens are kept in sheds that contain more than 20,000 birds, which causes them to be so close together that they can not even move. For example, imagine being in an elevator so crowded that a person can not move or turn around without bumping into their neighbor.

Due to the chickens being so close together, “sometimes their legs collapse under them, causing them to starve to death because they cannot reach their food” (Singer 1). When chickens and/or other animals go to the slaughterhouse, they are “slaughter[ed] at breakneck speeds on mechanized disassembly lines, often while they remain fully conscious” (Food Empowerment Project 1). Farmers also give chickens antibiotics to control the way they are cooked. For example, people have complained that they want more meat on the chicken’s breast so farmers started to give antibiotics to the chickens to increase their breast size. Another animal that is mistreated on farms and slaughterhouses is cattle.

For example, cattle are stuffed in “wooden crates for their entire lives. They can not walk, or even turn around” (Eisnitz 161). Most of cows are indoors and living on hard and uncomfortable floors. Cows are raised to be consumed by humans. For example, they are slaughtered to be eaten and milked to produce dairy. Most of the time, cattle do not get the chance to live outdoors and live like an animal. When cows give birth, the calves are immediately separated. The “calves can become so distressed from separation that they become sick, lose weight from not eating, and cry so much that their throats become raw (Farm Sanuatary 1). Animals all around the world are going through these horrendous conditions everyday, and it needs to be stopped. 

Factory farming should be stopped because it affects society's health and environment. Humans are affected by factory farming in many ways, but the government and politicians choose to ignore the problem because the industry is too powerful.  The contamination that factory farms produce cause illnesses in humans such as brain damage, birth defects or bacterial infections. Factory farm workers and people around factory farms are continuously exposed to diseases such as E. coli, salmonella, and campylobacter. For example, “more than 40 percent of “chicken catchers” and more than 50 percent of processing plant workers were infected with campylobacter, a type of bacteria that causes diarrhea and abdominal pain and that can sometimes prove fatal” (PETA 1). E. coli is one of the most dangerous illnesses in the world, it is fatal and can kill a lot of people. It is found mostly in in cows, however animals like chickens, deer, pigs, and horses can carry it as well. E coli is known for killing young children because it was in their food. For example, “E. coli killed almost a dozen children there in one three-year period” (PETA 1).

This statement shows that factory farms do not care about what kind of diseases are in the animals as long as they are getting their money. Factory farms can also cause miscarriages to those who are pregnant. For example, “the CDC believes that manure from a factory farm seeped into the groundwater of a small Indiana town and caused at least seven miscarriages” (PETA 1). Factory farming also affects the environment. Factory farms produce tons of waste every year and it pollutes the air society breaths and the water that society drinks. For example, “[society’s] nation’s factory farms create roughly 89,000 pounds of waste, which contains highly concentrated chemical and bacterial toxins” (PETA 1). All of the waste is dumped into the sewers which allows harmful chemicals to poison the air and the water. When the waste damages the air, people can suffer from different health problems like asthma due to the toxic gases. People who live around factory are in constant threat by the poisoned waterways because it can bring illness and death into their communities. For example, according to an aquatic biologist for the Environmental Protection Agency in Ohio, “The water in those areas is not in good shape, and the primary cause of the [pollution] is not septic tanks, treatment plants, or fertilizer—it’s manure, mainly from large farms” (PETA 1). People all around the world are going through these affects and it has changed their entire lives for the worse.

Even though that factory farming is unacceptable people think it is a good thing for the economy. One reason that people believe that factory farming is a good thing for the economy is because it is inexpensive. When factory farming started, the prices in food have dropped because the food are being processed and produced at a faster rate. Factory farms also provide a large number of food for society due to the faster process. Another reason is because factory farms are labeled as efficient. It is labeled as efficient because since the livestock are being raised in extremely confined spaces, the spaces used are secondary compared to the number of animals raised. This can save farmers from using a huge amount of money to maintain them. There a lot of job opportunities in factory farms. Due to factory farming involving large operations, there is a need of a huge number of people to work on it. The industry offers a wide variety of job opportunities and can help people in need of money and a job. The factory farming industry also has many business involved with them. Including other business and brands can boost their popularity and publicity. A bigger publicity can help with financial and other issues. Even though there are reasons why factory farming can be considered a good thing, there are many reasons why factory farming is a very bad thing. Factory farming in all is should be stopped or at least done differently. 

Like many other controversial issues in the world, factory farming surely has its place. Factory farming has its hold in the future no matter what. However, it is the way society looks at it and use factory farming that reduces the horrible things that come from it. The cons listed for factory farming has painted a rough picture of this method for people all around the world. However, even though in its own way, the process has increased the availability of food at more affordable prices, society can not deny the pain that it caused animals and humans. Factory farming is not the right way to produce food. There are many other ways that are comfortable like free-ranged. It is natural and it will not hurt the animals.

Factory farming is a harmful and horrendous process that includes slitting throats so the animals to squeal or scream and skinning while they are still alive which is horrifying. Not only are they abused in farms and slaughterhouses but employees think they have the right to kick the animals before they die, which is adding to their abuse more. Yes, society does need meat to survive but there are going to be better solutions than factory farming. If factory farming continues, at this rate most livestock will be extinct in the near future. Everyone takes animals for granted because they do not realize what they are doing. No one likes to be abused, then why should animals be treated like this? Why are animals less important?

 

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