Module 3: Using animals
- as food
- as pets
- in research
Statistics
- About 10 billion land animals die annually in food production in the US
- 218 million are killed by hunters, in animal shelters, research, product testing, dissection, and fur farms (2% of total killed)
- More numbers
Methods
- Factory farming--animals raised and processed in factory-like conditions--most animal products in the US
- Reforms & humane farming (separate post)
Foods (below)
- Pork, ham, bacon
- Beef
- Dairy
- Chicken
- Eggs
What about....veal, lamb, foie gras, seafood...look up in Singer's chapter and index
FACTORY FARMING
Pigs (for pork, ham, bacon)
- crowding (see image below and video)
- tail-docking -- notice that the pigs in the pictures below have no tails!
- ammonia fumes, no straw
- short lives (life cycle of a market pig) -- 6 months (vs. 15-20 yrs)
- pregnancy
- artificial insemination
- sow crates (for pregnant pigs) -- 114 days
- farrowing crates (for birthing and lactating pigs) -- 21 days
- sow impregnanted again
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| Hog farm images |
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| New York Times, May 2020 (click for more info) |
Pregnancy
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| Gestation crates (wikipedia) |
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| By Alisha Vargas from Reno, NV, US - Piglets Nursing, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6498410 |
Beef Cattle
Animal welfare ssues
- castration, branding, dehorning
- live on range until 8 months, BUT at feedlot for several months
- corn diet, antibiotics, hormones to promote quick weight gain
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More info: Power Steer (Michael Pollan, NYT) |
Dairy Cows
Animal welfare issues
- cows impregnated once a year (artificial insemination)
- separated from calf after a few weeks (see calf hutches here)
- BST (increases milk production), mastitis
- What happens to the males? (read about sexed semen)
Broiler Chickens (for meat)
Animal welfare issues
- crowding (20,000 per barn)
- debeaking, ammonia fumes
- collapsing under own weight
- very short lives (5-7 weeks vs. many years)
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| poultry farm images |
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| Farm sanctuary |
Laying Hens (for eggs)
- crowding (each chicken has less space than a piece of typing paper)
- debeaking
- male chicks immediately killed
- short lives
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| Looking down into a dumpster - discarded male chicks |
Slaughter
Slaughter of pigs, cattle (USDA regulated) -
- Rough handling
- Transported on hot, crowded trucks
- Animals shot in head with stun gun, lose consciousness (ideally)
- Hoisted upside-down, throats slit
- Animals killed at a rate of 400 per hour
- Temple Grandin reforms: more auditing, curved chute
Slaughter of chickens (minimally regulated)
- thrown on trucks, long trip, no water
- shackled upside down, dragged through electrified water, throats slit