Standard practices on intensive animal factory farms still include painful practices. Piglets can legally be castrated without anesthesia. Gestation crates for mother sows are legal in over 40 USA states. Veal calves are fed a diet to make them purposely anemic. The standard method of killing a piglet is slamming it head first to the ground. Even if laws improve to make the lives. Iām some ways, factory farming of animals is similar to vertical farming, maybe with just the exception of tall buildings.
AIām just curious. No need to be specific but am I the youngest person here? Iām 27. We all have our biases. I am young, grew up, studied, and live(d) in āslickā urban centers of the Northeast USA (Boston, NYC, etc). I admit I have never been to any place considered āruralā aside from passing by on the freeway and that suburbs bore me. Iām very experienced in growing some of my own crops.
Dave, Iām 17. So I doubt that you are the youngest person here!
I donāt think that animal agriculture will ever be done away with. Itās too important, too valuable. There are so many places in the world where crops cannot be grown, but the land is still suitable for raising sheep and cattle. Tillable land is an exception more than a rule. There is so much space that CANNOT be used for anything except grazing.
Also, humans cannot digest grass, but sheep and cattle can, and they can convert something almost totally useless to us into highly nutritious meat and milk, as well as wearable products such as wool and leather.
I suggest that you spend some time actually working on farms and slaughterhouses before you make these statements. Itās easy to condemn practices when you donāt know what is behind them. You are getting your information from video footage on animal rights websites, which is hardly a good representative of what goes on on a farm, āfactoryā or not. You have never gotten three hours of sleep in a 36 hour period because you were lambing out 200 ewes. Youāve never had to pull a calf on a hill in February, battling sub-zero winds in short sleeves while your arms are covered with OB lube and amniotic fluid. Youāve never been the one restraining the cow so the vet can suture her smashed teat, getting kicked all the time. Youāve never had to replace a uterine prolapse. Youāve never had to help a vet perform a C-section on a ewe and end up with dead triplets. Youāve never had to perform a rumenotomy on a sheep or cow. Youāve never vaccinated 50 head of steers in the summer heat. Youāve never hauled out hundreds of gallons of hot water out to thirsty ewes because the pump broke in the winter. Youāve never put up fencing.
You know what? Thatās okay. Most people havenāt. Your lifestyle is your choice. If you donāt want to particpate, you donāt have to. If you choose not to eat meat, then you donāt have to. But please do not make it sound like not eating meat is preferable to consuming it, when it is not a moral matter at all- just like Iām not saying everybody should start farming when they do not wish to do so, or canāt.
By the way, surgical castration of piglets is usually an incredibly humane way of doing it. Do you really think that subjecting young animals to general anesthesia is the way to go? Itās so remarkably swift, that it would probably take longer to inject lidocaine than to simply get the job done. It usually heals rapidly. I am highly in favor of this method in lambs and calves. After a certain point, I believe that lidocaine should be used, but analgesics are NOT without their risks. I am never in favor of unnecessary operations or anything that will cause more than very minimal pain.
I am not thrilled with gestation crates, but if youāve ever actually been around a modern commercial sow, all she does is lies around anyway. Also, sows fight terribly when the mood strikes them, and they are not opposed to consuming their foes. Gestation crates are not ideal, but they are far better than that.
The method you described of euthanizing piglets sounds very troubling- but with a competent individual, it results in instant death- no pain. Thatās the ideal euthanasia! Chemical euthanasia is not painless, and unfortunately veterinarians can tell you about the animals that did not go down right away- through no fault of the vet. Itās not foolproof.
Iām never in favor of deliberately creating substandard health situations in favor of a premium product, like veal. Most veal in the US is not from iron-deficient calves.
If youāve ever worked on most farms, youāll see that the health and happiness of the livestock is a huge focus, for without it, itās impossible to produce a quality product. The vast majority of these animals are comfortable, climate-controlled settings, given regular veterinary care, have a comfortable place to rest, and have food brought right to them. I will admit that it is not ideal, but as I said before, I think they are doing pretty well for how they choose to manage them. I donāt have a favorable opinion of some of the modern managemnt techniques, but I would strongly hesitate to say that they are being mistreated.
Without agriculture, cattle and sheep would cease to exist, as would every other livestock species, except maybe for horses, as they are often kept as pets. Farming is a symbiosis, a partnership, in which we pledge to provide for their needs, and in return, they give us what we need. We love our animals, we love the land, and we want to be good stewards of these wonderful gifts that God blessed us with. āBe thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, and look well to thy herdsā as it says in Proverbs.
