Life on a Factory Farm

Picture your life as a pig on a factory farm.

You are trapped in a filthy crate, constricted by metal bars on all sides with no space to move around. You get no exercise. You will never see sunlight or breathe fresh air. All you know is the room you are in, and the bars that keep you imprisoned. You are cold. You are in pain. You are afraid. And you are separated from your family and your friends. Everyone around you is scared and panicking—you can feel it in the air.

You will be used and abused until the day you die. When you have babies, you will love them and will want to protect them. One day, soon after they are born, they will be taken from you. They, too, will also be abused, and there is nothing you can do to save them. You will be forced to hear their cries and watch them suffer, but you cannot reach them.

Finally, at the age of two, after giving birth between three and five times, and no longer having a perceived value on the factory farm where you’ve lived the entirety of your short life, you will be packed into a truck for transport, and sentenced to die in a slaughterhouse. This is your life.

Life for all animals on a factory farm is a life of unimaginable cruelty. Factory farming was born as an agricultural technique to maximize efficiency and production of meat, milk, and eggs. It was touted as a way for farms to serve a growing demand for meat while maximizing profit. Factory farming is considered the cheapest and easiest solution to this day.

Of course, taking the easy way out has its consequences. Apart from enabling the remorseless mistreatment and violent slaughter of animals, these farms also release huge amounts of methane gas and waste into the land, air, and water. So why does the government allow this? It’s simple: Big agricultural businesses like Tyson, who supplies McDonald’s with millions of chickens each year, have an outsized economic influence—arguing that they are keeping farmers in business and creating jobs, while keeping up with demand.

Pigs are not the only ones being abused

Undercover investigations of factory farms have brought the horrific torture of caged and abused animals to the public’s attention. More people than ever are aware of the crimes committed against not just pigs, but cows, chickens, and all other animals raised for food.

For example, cows exploited for dairy are treated like milk-producing machines, constantly cycling through pregnancy (by artificial insemination), birth, and milking until their bodies give out or their milk production is no longer profitable. Much like pigs, these mother cows are separated from their babies, who will likely be slaughtered and sold as veal. When the mother cow is close to five years old and can no longer produce milk, she too is killed. Every moment and day of her life is full of suffering.

Chickens are suffering too. Hens used for laying eggs are crammed into tiny wire cages, often stacked on top of one another. Their sensitive beaks are excruciatingly seared off while they are fully conscious to avoid them hurting each other out of frustration during their inhumane confinement. When their egg-laying rate drops, hens are considered "spent". "Spent" hens are either killed or force molted, which involves being kept in complete darkness without food or water to shock their systems into another egg-laying cycle. After about two years of this torture, those who have survived are sent to slaughter.

The chickens raised for meat—broiler chickens—are bred to grow so fast that their legs cannot sustain the weight of their bodies. As a result, they are often left to lie in their own feces, barely able to stand up to get food and water, despite their insatiable hunger. They frequently develop fatal respiratory and skin diseases, and some die of heart failure—a direct consequence of their oversized bodies. After all this torture and suffering, they are shipped off to be killed and are violently slaughtered at just six or seven weeks of age. Mere babies. The last moments of their lives are full of stress, fear, and pain before they become just another meal.

Factory farming hurts our planet

According to Sentience Institute, an estimated 94% of US farmed animals are living in factory farms today. The factory farming industry’s goal is to maximize output while minimizing costs—at the expense of the animals, our health, and our environment.

Modern animal agriculture puts an incredible strain on natural resources and produces a staggering amount of waste and greenhouse gases. This pollutes our land, air, and water while contributing to climate change. In the US alone, animals raised on factory farms generate more than one million tons of manure per day—three times the amount generated by the people in this country. Because the animals on factory farms are often unhealthy and sick, they are typically fed antibiotics in order to keep them alive long enough to be killed. Large amounts of the antibiotics given to these animals end up in their excrement. Needless to say, this waste—along with other pollutants from factory farms—impacts our soil, our waterways, and our health, as modern industrial farming practices create the opportunity for dangerous diseases.

Opening your eyes to the animal suffering and environmental impact of factory farming can be shocking and can feel defeating. However, there is hope. Each of us can make a difference.

Factory farming is still in practice today as a way for farms to serve a growing demand for meat while maximizing profit. But what if the demand were to drop dramatically? What if we raised our future generations to care about animals, the environment, and our health? We are the answer to this epidemic of factory farming. We can put an end to the abuse by making the compassionate choice to leave animals off our plates.

You can make a difference. You can be the change. Consider leaving animals off of your plates in 2020.