FACTORY FARMING

Is Factory Farming Cruel to Animals?

Is Factory Farming Cruel to Animals?

Factory Farming

There is no one definition of factory farming. But experts agree that there are several key characteristics, such as production procedures, that all factory farms share. The most defining characteristic of a factory farm--and one of the most often criticized--is the sheer number of animals present on factory farms, often in extremely cramped spaces. For instance, the average egg farm in Ohio in the middle of the 20th century had fewer than 100 chickens. But the average egg farm in Ohio now has nearly 10,000 chickens. Buckeye Egg Farm, one of the largest egg producers in the state, has 14 million chickens on farms in four counties.

Another common feature of the factory farm is the consolidation of the various processes that take, for instance, a pig from birth to the grocery store. It is now common for a single company to own and operate the facilities that breed, birth, raise and slaughter animals (Humane Farming Association, 1985). This brings us to the question whether people would actually purchase meat if they knew how animals are treated on these farms?

The corporations that typically own the factory farms say that such consolidation--as well as the massive number of animals involved in the typical factory farm operation--allows companies to reduce costs. Consequently, they say, the price of a dozen eggs is far below what it would otherwise be.

The supersizing of many U.S. farms, observers note, has outpaced government regulation. Most states require farms to obtain permits if the farm has at least 100,000 chickens, 55,000 turkeys, 2,500 hogs, 1,000 beef cattle or 700 milk cows. But, analysts say, the reality is that the rapid expansion of those gigantic farms has meant that state regulators are often unaware that the farms even exist.

Critics Call Factory Farms Inhumane

That an animal should be made to live in total confinement, devoid of sunlight, fresh air and the ability to stretch its limbs is appalling, factory farm critics say. That line of thinking, they continue, holds just as true for farm animals destined for the grocery store as it does for any other animal.

The way a society treats animals, critics contend, says a lot about what that society values and does not value. Do people actually want to be a part of a society, critics ask, that inflicts detestable cruelties upon defenseless animals? "A person is a person, just as a dog is a dog, a deer a deer, a pig a pig, and so on through the animal kingdom," says Scully. "And either they suffer or they do not suffer. Either that suffering has moral value or it does not have moral value. Either we have duties of kindness or we do not."

No serious thinker, opponents contend, believes that animals do not feel pain, as the French philosopher Ren Descartes once claimed. Descartes based his claim on the fact that animals lack a soul and, therefore, cannot feel ...