''The life of farm animals''
Farm animals including pigs and chickens,are housed in
massive confinement buildings that resemble factory warehouess,and most of these
animals never see the outdoor until they are sent to slaughter.
In factory farms,animals do not even have enough space to move their limbs or turn around.Broiler chickens are crammed into buildings holding thousands of birds,while chickens used in egg production are confined in ''battery cage''that usually measures 144 square INCHES,often with cages stacked 3 to 5 layers high,there are usually eight or nine hens kept in each cage.The hens live like this for about two years or less, until their bodies are exhausted from the stresses of constant laying and their egg production decreases. At that point,they are shipped to slaughter to be turned into animal feed or sometimes human
food or are simply discarded. In 2003 a public outcry brought attention to a California ranch that was reported to have discarded thousands of live hens using a wood chipper; no charges were brought because, as it turned out, this is a common industry practice.
There are about 300 million laying hens in the United States; of these, some 95 percent are kept in wire battery cages, which allow each hen an average of 67 square inches of space—less than the size of a standard sheet of paper.Hens are usually kept eight or nine to a cage; long tiers of these cages are built one upon another in sheds that hold tens of thousands of birds, none of whom has enough room to raise a wing. A very horrible effect of the egg-production industry is the wholesale destruction of male chicks, who are useless to the egg industry. These chicks are not used in the meat industry either, because they have not been genetically manipulated for meat production. Male chicks are ground up in batches while still alive, suffocated in trash cans, or gassed.
More than 50 billion chickens are raised and slaughtered annually.
Only in movies do pigs spend their lives running across sprawling pastures and relaxing in the sun.
On any given day in the U.S., there are more than 65 million pigs on factory farms, and 110 million
are killed for food each year.
Mother pigs (sows)who account for almost 6 million of the pigs in the U.S.spend most of their lives in individual "gestation" crates.These crates are about 7 feet long and 2 feet wide too small to allow the animals even to turn around.After giving birth to piglets, sows are moved to "farrowing" crates, which are wide enough for them to lie down and nurse their babies but not big enough for them to turn around or build nests for their young.
Piglets are separated from their mothers when they are as young as 10 days old. Once her piglets are gone, the sow is impregnated again, and the cycle continues for three or four years before she is slaughtered. This intensive confinement produces stress- and boredom-related behavior, such as chewing on cage bars and obsessively pressing against water bottles.
After they are taken from their mothers, piglets are confined to pens until,they are separated to be raised for breeding or meat.Every year in the U.S., millions of male piglets are castrated (almost always without being given any painkillers) because consumers supposedly complain of "boar taint" in meat that comes from intact animals.In extremely crowded conditions, piglets are prone to stress-related behavior such as cannibalism and tail-biting, so farmers often chop off piglets' tails and use pliers to break off the ends of their teeth without giving them any painkillers.For identification purposes, farmers also cut out chunks of the young animals' ears.
Beef cows
Many beef cattle are born and/or live on the range, foraging and fending for themselves, for months or even years. They are not adequately protected against inclement weather, and they may die of dehydration or freeze to death. Injured, ill, or otherwise ailing animals do not receive necessary veterinary attention. One common malady afflicting beef cattle is called "cancer eye". Left untreated,
the cancer eats away at the animal's eye and face, eventually producing a crater in the side of the animal's head.
Accustomed to roaming unimpeded and unconstrained, range cattle are frightened and confused when humans come to round them up. Injuries often result as terrified animals are corralled and packed onto cattle trucks. Many will experience additional transportation and handling stress at stock yards and auctions where they are goaded through a series of walkways and holding pens and sold to the highest bidder. From the auction, older cattle may be taken directly to slaughter, or they may be takento a feedlot. Younger animals, and breeding age cows, may go back to the range.
Ranchers still identify cattle the same way they have since pioneer days, with hot iron brands. Needless to say, this practice is extremely traumatic and painful, and the animals bellow loudly as ranchers' brands are burned into their skin. Beef cattle are also subjected to waddling, another type of identification marking. This painful procedure entails cutting chunks out of the hide which hangs under the animals' necks. Waddling marks are supposed to be large enough so that ranchers can identify their cattle from a distance.
Most beef cattle spend the last few months of their lives at feedlots, crowded by the thousand into dusty, manure-laden holding pens. The air is thick with harmful bacteria and particulate matter, and the animals are at a constant risk for respiratory disease. Feedlot cattle are routinely implanted with growth promoting hormones, and they are fed unnaturally rich diets designed to fatten them quickly and profitably. Because cattle are biologically suited to eat a grass-based, high fiber diet, their concentratedfeedlot rations contribute to metabolic disorders.
Cattle may be transported several times during their lifetimes, and they may travel hundreds or even thousands of miles during a single trip. Long journeys are very stressful and contribute to disease.
Young cattle are commonly taken to areas with cheap grazing land, to take advantage of this inexpensive feed source. Upon reaching maturity, they are trucked to a feedlot to be fattened and readied for slaughter. Eventually, all of them will end up at the slaughterhouse.
At a standard beef slaughterhouse, 250 cattle are killed every hour.
Once animals get to the slaughterhouse animals,such as cows and pigs are led to the killing floor,where they are stunned by electiric shock,shackled,hoisted upside down,kicking and struggling,and butered.delivering a potent shock is often difficult or too much trouble for the slaughterhouse workers and the result is that some animals regain conciousness while hanging and waiting for slaughter or during the slaughtering process itself.Eventually, the animals will be "stuck" in the throat with a knife, and blood will gush from their bodies whether or not they are unconscious.At slaughterhouses that produce kosher or balal meat,the animals are NOT stunned before having their carotid arties severed.
On any given day in the U.S., there are more than 65 million pigs on factory farms, and 110 million
are killed for food each year.
Mother pigs (sows)who account for almost 6 million of the pigs in the U.S.spend most of their lives in individual "gestation" crates.These crates are about 7 feet long and 2 feet wide too small to allow the animals even to turn around.After giving birth to piglets, sows are moved to "farrowing" crates, which are wide enough for them to lie down and nurse their babies but not big enough for them to turn around or build nests for their young.
Piglets are separated from their mothers when they are as young as 10 days old. Once her piglets are gone, the sow is impregnated again, and the cycle continues for three or four years before she is slaughtered. This intensive confinement produces stress- and boredom-related behavior, such as chewing on cage bars and obsessively pressing against water bottles.
After they are taken from their mothers, piglets are confined to pens until,they are separated to be raised for breeding or meat.Every year in the U.S., millions of male piglets are castrated (almost always without being given any painkillers) because consumers supposedly complain of "boar taint" in meat that comes from intact animals.In extremely crowded conditions, piglets are prone to stress-related behavior such as cannibalism and tail-biting, so farmers often chop off piglets' tails and use pliers to break off the ends of their teeth without giving them any painkillers.For identification purposes, farmers also cut out chunks of the young animals' ears.
Beef cows
Many beef cattle are born and/or live on the range, foraging and fending for themselves, for months or even years. They are not adequately protected against inclement weather, and they may die of dehydration or freeze to death. Injured, ill, or otherwise ailing animals do not receive necessary veterinary attention. One common malady afflicting beef cattle is called "cancer eye". Left untreated,
the cancer eats away at the animal's eye and face, eventually producing a crater in the side of the animal's head.
Accustomed to roaming unimpeded and unconstrained, range cattle are frightened and confused when humans come to round them up. Injuries often result as terrified animals are corralled and packed onto cattle trucks. Many will experience additional transportation and handling stress at stock yards and auctions where they are goaded through a series of walkways and holding pens and sold to the highest bidder. From the auction, older cattle may be taken directly to slaughter, or they may be takento a feedlot. Younger animals, and breeding age cows, may go back to the range.
Ranchers still identify cattle the same way they have since pioneer days, with hot iron brands. Needless to say, this practice is extremely traumatic and painful, and the animals bellow loudly as ranchers' brands are burned into their skin. Beef cattle are also subjected to waddling, another type of identification marking. This painful procedure entails cutting chunks out of the hide which hangs under the animals' necks. Waddling marks are supposed to be large enough so that ranchers can identify their cattle from a distance.
Most beef cattle spend the last few months of their lives at feedlots, crowded by the thousand into dusty, manure-laden holding pens. The air is thick with harmful bacteria and particulate matter, and the animals are at a constant risk for respiratory disease. Feedlot cattle are routinely implanted with growth promoting hormones, and they are fed unnaturally rich diets designed to fatten them quickly and profitably. Because cattle are biologically suited to eat a grass-based, high fiber diet, their concentratedfeedlot rations contribute to metabolic disorders.
Cattle may be transported several times during their lifetimes, and they may travel hundreds or even thousands of miles during a single trip. Long journeys are very stressful and contribute to disease.
Young cattle are commonly taken to areas with cheap grazing land, to take advantage of this inexpensive feed source. Upon reaching maturity, they are trucked to a feedlot to be fattened and readied for slaughter. Eventually, all of them will end up at the slaughterhouse.
At a standard beef slaughterhouse, 250 cattle are killed every hour.
Once animals get to the slaughterhouse animals,such as cows and pigs are led to the killing floor,where they are stunned by electiric shock,shackled,hoisted upside down,kicking and struggling,and butered.delivering a potent shock is often difficult or too much trouble for the slaughterhouse workers and the result is that some animals regain conciousness while hanging and waiting for slaughter or during the slaughtering process itself.Eventually, the animals will be "stuck" in the throat with a knife, and blood will gush from their bodies whether or not they are unconscious.At slaughterhouses that produce kosher or balal meat,the animals are NOT stunned before having their carotid arties severed.