Factory Farms A Cruel Depiction Of America S Food Term paper
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Sarah PelletierCollege WritingRough Draft Factory Farms: A Cruel Depiction of America s Food Industry There is no happy little farmer milking his cow on a nice farm anymore; this is the food industry; it is dirty; it is unsafe, and it is a massacre of innocent animals. Cows, chickens, pigs and other animals processed into food are not kept on a farm; they are crowded into pens and cages that are too small to even allow the animal to turn around (Krizmanic 36). People don t have to be victims of ignorance; they don t have to be fooled by the nicely packaged meat in the supermarket s freezer; this is a filthy business. If people only knew what actually went on in the food industry and the risks that were taken with their dinner, they would and should change the way they eat and live. So if the animals aren t growing up on farms, where are they? Animals are raised at places called factory farms (Krizmanic 36), which is also known as intensive animal agriculture (Kamrin NA). A factory farm is just that, a factory. Food is brought to the confined animal on conveyer belts, and eggs and other products are taken away on conveyer belts (Krizmanic 36). Crowding, rough handling, mutilation, force feeding, genetic manipulation and loss of offspring are the normal and standard operating procedures (Kamrin NA). 90% of all slaughtered animals are raised in confinement (Krizmanic 37). At these farms , nine million chickens, turkeys, pigs calves and cows are slaughtered every day (Robins NA), so that most of the United States meat, milk and eggs come from intensive confinement factory farms (Sequoia 45). These animals are not just raised on animal feed alone. Animals are immobilized by machines and transported on assembly lines into darkened factories, to be injected with many toxic substances (Sequoia 45), including antibiotics and hormones to make them grow faster and meatier (Krizmanic 37). 40% to 50% of the antibiotics used in the United States are given to these animals without medical supervision (Sequoia 46). In the actual feed there are fungicides, recycled wastes and insecticides (Sequoia 46), and even steroids have started to become the norm (Fox 25). Now, to make animals eat more, electrodes are being implanted into some animals skulls, which works to stimulate the hunger centers of animals brains (Fox 25). An act called the Humane Slaughter Act in part that animals are supposed to be unconscious before they are killed (Krizmanic 37). This act would make animal slaughter more humane, except that there is little inspection to make sure that those animals are protected, and most are still fully conscious when they are killed. Another fault with this act is that birds are not covered by this act because they are not classified under the animal category (Krizmanic 37). Animals do have rights, but with these fallible laws, they are not being defended. Cows are one of the most popular sources for meat, and we get many of our food products from them including beef, milk and cheese. A beef cow, by one year old is put on a feedlot to gain weight along with the help of growth stimulants (Shapiro 55). Here they are branded and de-horned without any anesthetics (Krizmanic 40). Cattle feed is grown with herbicides, and their pens are sprayed with insecticides (Shapiro 55). When a cow is large enough, they are moved from the feedlots to the slaughterhouse (Krizmanic 40). On the way there, sometimes cows fall down or become injures on the trucks. These cows are called downers and they are prodded and dragged with chains to get off of the truck. Some downers are left to die on the side of the road without food or water, and others are still processed for humans to eat, even though the cow may be sick (Krizmanic 40). Milk cows are very overworked as they are expected to produce milk continuously. To do this, the cow must birth every year and make ten times the amount of milk that they naturally would (Krizmanic 40 41). A mother s calf is taken from her when it is just a few days old, so that it doesn t drink her milk (Krizmanic 40-41). Then the mother is hooked up to an automatic milking machine (Kamrin NA). Cows are milked two to three times a day by the machines, with leaves them with swollen and diseased udders (Krizmanic 40-41). Milking sows are also injected with BGH (bovine growth hormone) to boost the production of milk. When the cow s milking days are over, she is slaughtered for her meat (Krizmanic 40-41). Every year, one million newly born calves are taken from their mothers to be processed into veal (Krizmanic 41). They are kept in narrow crates and are chained at the neck so they cannot even lie down (Krizmanic 41-42) or clean themselves (Regan 220). In these crates, no straw bedding is provided, as the baby cows would eat it (Krizmanic 42). They are deprived of hay because the iron nutrient in the hay would darken the meat, and veal meat is supposed to be processed with a light color (Fox 29). The baby cows are kept in the dark most of their lives (Regan 220). Veal cows are deprived of exercise, as that would cause their muscles to develop and toughen (Krizmanic 42). The baby cow s main source of food is an iron-deficient milk replacer type of gruel to keep their flesh white. Because of the lack of iron, the calves often become anemic, and some die even before making it to the slaughterhouse (Krizmanic 42). The babies that do make it to the slaughterhouse are cripples and can barely walk to greet their death (Fox 29). Every year more than 5+ billion chickens are raised for consumption, and every bird raised uses 5+ gallons of water for drinking (Kamrin NA). These broiler chickens as they are called, are killed as early as 6 weeks old (Fox 31). At an average size factory farm, more than 100 chickens are crammed into small windowless sheds (Kamrin NA). In these sheds, chickens are crowded onto floors covered with wood shavings (Fox 31). They have to stay on these shavings, soaked with their droppings, which creates an ammonia-rich environment, which leads to birds with eye diseases, respiratory problems and contact burns on the bird s skin (Fox 31). These birds become agitated and start pecking each other (Krizmanic 38). To avoid this, the farmers remove their beaks with a hot blade while the animal is fully conscious (Krizmanic 38). They are also declawed, and some have even been fitted with rose colored contact lenses to reduce their stress (Fox 26). Chicken feed is...
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