Are Factory Farms the cause of disease?

From the Daily Green, environmental news:

Swine Flu, Factory Pig Farms, and the Pandemic waiting to happen.

Hmm. Makes plenty of sense to me, nevermind the horrible environmental impact of Factory Farming, and not to mention the terrible mistreatment the animals suffer in such an environment. Factory Farms in the USA are not a pretty picture, I cannot imagine what they are like in Mexico, where horse slaughter means a man with a knife stabs the animal repeatedly until he manages (miraculously!) to severe its spine and paralyze it.

Factory Farming is just evil. And that's all I have to say about it.

Victory for Prop. 2!

Another victory for animals to come out of Tuesday's election was the passing of California's Proposition 2. Prop 2 banned the use of battery cages (small cages in which chickens are kept for egg laying purposes. Animal advocates have long argued that confinement in such small cages is cruel and unusual punishment.) in California, and will hopefully set a precedent to begin eradicating this practice throughout our country.
The proposition also contained legislation which bans other types of cruel confinement on factory farms such as gestation crates for pigs, and veal crates for calves. This is a huge step in the right direction that has taken a long time to come to pass. Don't let us lose momentum now! Please contact your state legislators and encourage them to introduce similar measures in your own home state!
On a related note, Farm Sanctuary Campaign Associate Casey Martinson has reminded me that tail docking is only one of many atrocities facing dairy cows.
Casey says: "In light of the many pressing concerns currently on Farm Sanctuary’s legislative agenda—downed animal protection, the use of cruel factory farm confinement systems, foie gras production and so on—I’m not sure that efforts to ban tail docking will be given high priority during the next session of Congress. However, we would certainly give our full support to any tail docking measures that are introduced, and if we see any opportunities for our members to lobby in support of such measures, we will issue alerts accordingly."
I can certainly understand how tail docking can be considered a minor concern, when one considers all the other issues facing dairy cows. I can certainly understand that it would be difficult to engage people's interest and raise funds for a fight against tail docking in the face of so much other suffering. However, just because the issue is small, I see no reason to pass it by completely, and hope it will simply 'go away'. I encourage everyone once again to write to their representatives and inquire as to whether any legislation concerning the welfare of cows in the dairy industry is pending, and urge them to condemn cruel practices. I don't expect anyone to go writing a bill specifically to ban tail docking, but I definitely think efforts should be made to insert a ban on tail docking into any current legislation upholding the health and well being of dairy cattle.

Voters decide whether animals need more space

From the Washington Post, via Los Angeles, California.

I have written a few articles in the past about the cruel and inhumane confinement that many animals on factory farms exist in. I will continue to write them until I feel the message has gotten across, and similar initiatives have passed in all fifty states.
I personally believe that battery cages, gestation crates, and veal crates, among other factory farm atrocities, are cruel and unnecessary punishment of innocent animals. Just because we're going to eat them doesn't mean we have to torture them first. I hope everyone visits Farm Sanctuary and sees what I'm talking about.
If you think I'm right about cruel confinement that's great. If you don't, that's okay too. But either way I hope you read the article, and do a little research about the humane and food safety issues behind this ballot measure.
What really rankles me is the amount of money people have put into campaigns to either support or defeat this measure. I can never understand why people throw all their money at campaigning instead of just going out and DOING the thing. With the money both sides have thrown at the problem, they could have probably gotten together and done a lot to come to some sort of compromise on the issue. Like raised the money necessary to help large-scale egg-farming operations convert from battery cages to a cage-free operation. Why do people always have to use their money to FIGHT?
Again, my personal thought, everything comes down to the consumer. If the consumer shows the operator that they want a different product, or they are willing to pay for something to be done differently, the operator will eventually have to bow to the consumer. So California voters, if you want cage-free, antibiotic-free, disease-free laying hens laying your eggs, get out the vote and tell them so.
My final thought on factory farms: I don't like'em. I believe in local economy, and supporting your local farmers, not giant corporations. For a few months now I've been getting the majority of my eggs from seven free-range hens of varying breeds we keep on our farm, and they do me just fine. However, if anyone knows the secret to getting hardboiled farm fresh brown eggs to peel cleanly, I'd be obliged to know it.

Still on my blacklist: Dairy Cow tail-docking. When will it stop?

Factory Farming

Here's one I didn't know about until recently: factory farms keeping breeding female pigs in 'gestation crates', tiny metal cages basically the same size as the pig. She can't move forward or backward more than a couple of shuffling inches, can't turn around, hardly has enough room to even lay down and get back up.
Now, I always assumed that factory farms kept their animals in fairly confined spaces, but not even enough room to lay down? That's like if you kept your 70 lb golden retriever in a shopping cart basket its entire life and never let it out. That's cruel confinement. And it happens to more than just pigs. Baby cows are taken from their mothers, placed in similar 'crates' and tethered to the wall to keep them from moving about, all while being fed a diet purposely lacking in vital minerals and fiber, all to make the perfect cut of veal. Chicken eggs are hatched out in incubators, and the chickens spend their entire life packed one on top of another in wire cages hardly tall enough for them to stand up in. I get dozens of letters in the mail every year from horse rescue groups looking for homes for Premarin foals, but I've only ever gotten one letter from a group who was actually trying to do something to help the MARES. Premarin producing mares have a nice life, part of the time. They get to live outdoors in large groups, enjoying the grass and sunshine. Until they get pregnant, then it's into the barn for the next so many months, confined to a stall with a bag stuck under your tail, just so middle-aged women don't get hot flashes. And meanwhile the foal gets tossed by the wayside, a 'by product' of Premarin production.
Do you remember when you were a kid, getting fried chicken for summer picnics? Now think about the last time to picked up a bucket of fried chicken on the weekend. Those thighs and drumsticks just don't look as plump as they used to, do they? Heck, there's hardly any wing in that bucket. That's because that chicken probably spent her whole life in a tiny little cage, hardly moving around, being fed unappetizing supplements, and never grew or muscled out properly to make a nice chunk of chicken.
Dairy cows are slightly better off. They don't have to stand around in the milking barn all day at least, though I'm not sure what the situation is these days with those milk-production boosting drugs and supplements. I haven't noted it to be a widespread practice at least in my part of the country but I can cite at least one farm that still practices tail docking. Upon noticing to my outrage a farm full of Holsteins with their tails chopped off, I had to call my mother who grew up on a dairy farm and ask her if they had docked the tails of the cows at her farm. She said no, but she knew that the practice existed. I've since read that 'nicking and docking' are BANNED in the UK and a number of European countries.
Many of what the New Jersey Department of Agriculture calls 'routine animal agricultural practices performed by farms on a daily basis' have been CONDEMNED as cruel by the American Veterinary Medical Association, yet these practices continue. How can a country that is so forward thinking when it comes to human rights be so backwards when it comes to the basic rights of animals?
Here's a Glouceshershire Old Spots sow and her little piggies as they were meant to be, roaming free range in an orchard! You're never going to hear me say 'don't eat meat.' I'm not a vegetarian, I'm never going to be a vegetarian, and I don't think you should have to be either. If you are vegan or a vegetarian, more power to you! I wish I was that strong. But while we might eventually convince 60% of the world to drive hybrid cars, we're never going to convince them all to eat soybeans instead of beef. We're not going to stop the slaughter of domestic livestock. But we CAN do our best to see that these animals don't suffer. What can you do to help? Go to Farm Sanctuary to find out more about cruel farming practices, and how you can help change the legislature that allows it! And you know, if you happen to have 40 odd acres and no mule, maybe you can adopt one.



I may not be a Veg, but I applaud those who are!
Says creator GreenBites of this design: Being a smart investor, and being a Vegetarian or a Vegan, you are really bullish on saving lives. Invest in nature, invest in peace, invest in lives. And we will get the returns that we never dreamt