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What is a Factory Farm
A factory farm is a large-scale industrial operation that houses thousands of animals raised for food—mainly chickens, turkeys, cows and pigs—and treats them with hormones and antibiotics to prevent disease and maximize their growth and food output. These animals lead short, painful lives and often produce food that is lower in quality than those animals raised in healthy environments.
A few of the practices employed by factory farms are:
- Feeding animals antibiotics on a consistent basis. Humans consuming these dairy and meat products may lose some of their ability to fight certain strains of bacteria.
- Altering animals' bodies to prevent them from acting out aggression and anxiety caused by living in such extreme confinement.
- Forcing breeding animals to produce young at unnaturally accelerated rates, causing them exhaustion and stress.
- Rough transportation of livestock to slaughter plants during which sick or injured animals who fall or die on the way are forced onto slaughter trucks―often with a bulldozer.
Confining so many animals in one place produces much more waste than the surrounding land can handle. As a result, factory farms are associated with various environmental hazards, such as water, land and air pollution―and people who live in close proximity to factory farms often complain of high incidents of illness.
Check out the ASPCA’s 10 Ways to Help Fight Factory Farms to find out how you can get involved.
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