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the Ethics of Farming Animals Industrially

An Introduction to CAFOs

Joshua Duffy

Philosophy 371: Community-Based Ethical Inquiry

November 2014

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Industrialized Farming

Globally, approx. 450 billion land animals.¹
Over 650 million animals slaughtered for food in Canada yearly,²approx 95% industrially.³
More than 99%⁴ of the more than 10 billion land animals slaughtered for food every yr in US.⁵
99.9% of chickens (meat)

97% of hens (eggs)

99% of turkeys

95% of pigs

78% of cattle

$140 billion+/yr industry⁶ that occupies nearly a third of the land on the planet⁷
“climate change is the most serious challenge facing the human race ... the raising of livestock is responsible for 18% of greenhouse gas emissions” exceeding those of the transport sector⁸

In the US, over 80% of antibiotics are fed to farm animals⁹:

approx 75% are not absorbed and pass from the animals into the environment¹⁰
Over 1/2 these illegal in the EU¹¹

On average, Americans eat the equivalent of 21,000 animals.¹²

Picture: WhyAyeMann777, “Factory Farming,” deviantART, http://whyayemann777.deviantart.com/art/Factory-Farming-200786105 (accessed November 1, 2014).

1. Foer, Eating Animals, 34.

2. “Realities of Farming in Canada,” Canadian Federation of Humane Societies, http://cfhs.ca/farm/farming_in_canada/ (accessed November 1, 2014).

3. “Factory Farming in Canada,” BeVeg.ca, http://www.beveg.ca/factory-farming-in-canada.php (accessed November 1, 2014).

4. “Factory Farming,” Farm Forward, http://www.farmforward.com/farming-forward/factory-farming (accessed November 1, 2014).

5. Foer, Eating Animals, 15.

6. Foer, Eating Animals, 32.

7. Henning Steinfeld et el.,“Livestock's Long Shadow: Environmental Issues and Options,” United Nations (Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2006), xxi, http://www.fao.org/docrep/010/a0701e/a0701e00.HTM (accessed November 9, 2014).

8. Steinfeld et el.,“Livestock's Long Shadow,” xxi; Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production, Putting Meat on the Table: Industrial Farm Animal Production in America, 27, http://www.ncifap.org/_images/PCIFAPFin.pdf (accessed November 9, 2014).

9. Grow, Brian, P. J. Puffstutter, and Michael Erman, “Documents reveal how poultry firms systematically feed antibiotics to flocks,” Reuters, September 15, 2014, http://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/farmaceuticals-the-drugs-fed-to-farm-animals-and-the-risks-posed-to-humans/ (accessed November 1, 2014).

10. Chee-Sanford, J. C. et al., “Fate and transport of antibiotic resistance genes following land application of manure waste,” J Environ Qual 38, no. 3 (2009): 1086-108.

11. Foer, Eating Animals, 136.

12. Foer, Eating Animals, 118.

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effect on the Environment

One-third of the land surface of the planet is dedicated to livestock.¹³
raising animals for food “is one of the top 2 or 3 most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems . . . the impact needs to be addressed with urgency”¹⁴
Animal agriculture makes a 40% greater contribution to global warming than all transportation in the world combined; it is the #1 cause of climate change.¹⁵
omnivores contribute 7x the greenhouse gases vegans do.¹⁶

farmed animals in the US produce 130x as much waste as the humans — roughly 88,000 pounds of waste/second.^*17

Good for the planet?

- 23lbs veg. protein produces 1 lb animal protein¹⁸

- 20 lbs grain (feeds 10+ humans) for 1 lb meat (1/3 daily caloric needs of 1 human)¹⁹

- all this feed could be used to combat the chronic hunger of the 1.4 billion humans who are living in dire poverty

- Eating a 1/4 pounder = 30+ showers²⁰

- “US agriculture accounts for 87% of all the fresh water consumed each year.”²¹

- if every American skipped 1 chicken meal/week, it would be the equivalent of taking 500,000 cars off road (carbon dioxide)²²

Picture: “Marshall County Board Votes Against Massive Hog Factory Farm,” prairieriversnetwork, May 12, 2014, http://prairierivers.org/articles/2014/05/marshall-county-board-votes-against-massive-hog-factory-farm/ (accessed November 2, 2014).

13. Henning Steinfeld et el.,“Livestock's Long Shadow: Environmental Issues and Options,” United Nations (Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2006), xxiii, http://www.fao.org/docrep/010/a0701e/a0701e00.HTM (accessed November 9, 2014).

14. Ibid., xx.

15. Foer, Eating Animals, 44; Gidon Eshel and Pamela A. Martin, “Diet, Energy, and Global Warming,” Earth Interactions 10, no. 9 (2005): 1– 17.

16. AFP, “Going veggie can slash your carbon footprint,” The Free Library, August 26, 2008, http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Going+veggie+can+slash+your+carbon+footprint%3A+study-a01611703310 (accessed November 2, 2014).

17. “Environment,” Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production, http://www.ncifap.org/issues/environment/ (accessed November 2, 2014).

18. Scott Wilson (http://www.wright.edu/~scott.wilson/personal/cv.htm), “Animals and Ethics: e. Implications for the Treatment of Animals,” Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, http://www.iep.utm.edu/anim-eth/ (accessed November 2, 2014); see also Jess McNally, “Can Vegetarianism Save the World? Nitty-gritty,” Stanford Magazine, http://alumni.stanford.edu/get/page/magazine/article/?article_id=29892 (accessed November 2, 2014).

19. McNally, “Can Vegetarianism Save the World? Nitty-gritty.”

20. “Water Conservation Tips,” National Geographic, http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/freshwater/water-conservation-tips/ (accessed November 2, 2014).

21. “U. S. could feed 800 million people with grain that livestock eat, Cornell economist advises animal scientists,” Cornell University: Cornell Chronicle, August 7, 1997, http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/1997/08/us-could-feed-800-million-people-grain-livestock-eat (accessed November 2, 2014).

22. “The Benefits of Reducing Meat Consumption One Day Each Week,” Compassionate Carnivores, http://www.compassionate-carnivores.org/health.html (accessed November 2, 2014).

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the Victims²³

Chickens	Cows	Pigs

Layers

Broiler

Dairy

Beef

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Chickens

Cognitive Facts

potential capacity for empathy.²⁴
sophisticated social behavior:

can recognize up to 100 separate individuals in their group and the social status of each²⁵
more than 30 types of vocalizations²⁶

will self-medicate²⁷
can anticipate the near-future and demonstrate self-control, something previously attributed only to humans and other primates²⁸

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Chickens [Layers (eggs)]

Battery Cages

possibly the worst life lived in industrial agriculture²⁹
90% of Canada’s egg laying hens³⁰
‘paper-sized’ allotted living space³¹
suffer from unnecessary afflictions³²
most are physically altered [eg. toenails, spurs, beaks clipped] without pain relief³³
*males are disposed of (over 200 million/yr)³⁴

Super Bowl Sunday

100 million lbs

of wings consumed³⁵

Pictures: http://www.upc-online.org/batthen.html; http://www.peta.org/blog/peta-s-super-bowl-ad-warning-fowl-language/

29. Lori Gruen, Ethics and Animals: An Introduction (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011), 83.

30. “Fast Facts About Eggs and Egg-Laying Hens,” BSPCA Farm Sense, April 2012, http://www.spca.bc.ca/assets/documents/welfare/farm/farmsense/in-other-news-fast-facts.pdf (accessed November 3, 2014).

31. ‘67 square inches’ to be precise; see “A Hen’s Space to Roost,” New York Times, http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/weekinreview/20100815-chicken-cages.pdf (accessed November 3, 2014).

32. Depression, anxiety, abuse from other chickens (debeaking), restlessness, frustration, brittle bones, etc.

33. Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production, Putting Meat on the Table: Industrial Farm Animal Production in America, 33, http://www.ncifap.org/_images/PCIFAPFin.pdf (accessed November 9, 2014).

34. Michael C. Appleby et al., Poultry Behaviour and Welfare (Wallingford: CABI, 2004), 184; Lorraine Murray, “Factory-Farmed Chickens: Their Difficult Lives and Deaths,” Encyclopaedia Britannica: Advocacy for Animals, May 14, 2007, http://advocacy.britannica.com/blog/advocacy/2007/05/the-difficult-lives-and-deaths-of-factory-farmed-chickens/ (accessed November 12, 2014); “Egg industry grinds millions of baby chicks alive,” Animal Planet, July 9, 2009, http://blogs.discovery.com/animal_news/2009/09/horrific-egg-industry-grinds-millions-of-baby-chicks-alive.html (accessed November 12, 2014).

35. “Facts,” Chicken and Egg Association of Minnesota, http://www.mnchicken.org/facts/ (accessed November 3, 2014).

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Chickens [Broilers (meat)]

Killed at 6 or 7 weeks³⁶
Growth rate increased 400% since the 30's (2x size in 1/2 time)³⁷
1935 to 1995, average weight of “broilers” increased by 65%³⁸

time-to-market dropped 60%
feed requirements dropped 57%

*Their body cannot support the growth. →

This is equivalent to human children growing to be 300 lbs in 10 yrs, while eating only granola bars and Flintstones vitamins.³⁹

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Chickens [broilers cont.]⁴⁰

Imagine 33,000 paper-sized rectangles in a grid.
Enclose the grid.
Run in automated (drug-laced) feed, water, heating, and ventilation systems.

This is a “farm”!?

Male Chicks	Broiler “Farming” [approx 50 billion/yr worldwide]⁴¹	Layers

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Chickens [Slaughter]⁴²

when market weight hit, loaded onto overcrowded truck with little protection from elements

many die enroute

can be slaughtered at a rate of 8,400/hr
put in leg shackles upside down and run through electrified bath which should stun them
pass by a motorized blade which cuts their throat
after bleeding out they are plunged in a scalding bath which removes feathers
carcasses are processed further

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Cows

Cognitive Facts

capable of recognizing other cows⁴³
are capable of having ‘eureka’ moments and being excited about learning⁴⁴
premature separation from mother leads to a pessimistic judgement bias and cause low mood⁴⁵
relaxed ear postures are indicative of . . . a positive, low arousal emotional state⁴⁶

Picture: http://edlieze.blogspot.ca/2010/06/pattern-behind-self-deception.html

43. Marjorie Coulon, Bertrand L. Deputte, Yvan Heyman, and Claude Baudoin, “Individual Recognition in Domestic Cattle (Bos taurus): Evidence from 2D-Images of Heads from Different Breeds,” PLoS One 4, no. 2 (2009): 1-8, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0004441.

44. Kristin Hagen and Donald Broom, “Emotional reactions to learning in cattle,” Applied Animal Behaviour Science 85, no.3-4 (2004): 203-13, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2003.11.007.

45. Rolnei R. Daros et al., “Separation from the Dam Causes Negative Judgement Bias in Dairy Calves,” PLoS One 9, no. 5 (2014): 1-5, doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0098429.

46. Helen S. Proctor and Gemma Carder, “Can ear postures reliably measure the positive emotional state of cows?,” Applied Animal Behaviour Science, October 9, 2014, doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2014.09.015; Marc Bekoff, “The Emotional Lives of Cows: Ears Tell us They’re Feeling OK,” Psychology Today: Animal Emotions, November 3, 2014, http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/animal-emotions/201411/the-emotional-lives-cows-ears-tell-us-theyre-feeling-ok (accessed November 17, 2014).

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Cows [Dairy]⁴⁷

calves taken shortly after birth

calves generally slaughtered⁴⁸
can’t drink mother’s milk (colostrum) which helps them fight off infection

risk of

mastitis
grain diet increases risk of SARA [subacute ruminal acidosis]^49-51

diarrhea, laminitis, weight loss, poor body condition, unexplained abscesses

kept continually pregnant

produce about 100 lbs of milk/day⁵²

lifespan of 20yrs reduced to 4(ish)
ends up as our hamburger

downer: 0.4-2.1% [16,000-90,000]⁵³

Picture: http://www.hoards.com/E_animalhealth/ah19; http://www.beveg.ca/factory-farming-in-canada.php

47. David Degrazia, Animal Rights: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002), 70.

48. “Dairy Cows Fact Sheet,” Animals Australia, http://www.animalsaustralia.org/factsheets/dairy_cows.php#toc11 (accessed November 6, 2014).

49. T. Mustvangwa, “Sub-Acute Ruminal Acidosis (SARA) in Dairy Cows,” Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, 2003, http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/livestock/dairy/facts/03-031.htm (accessed November 9, 2014).

50. D. G. V. Emmanuel, S. M. Dunn, and B. N. Ametaj, “Feeding High Proportions of Barley Grain Stimulates an Inflammatory Response in Dairy Cows,” Journal of Dairy Science 91, no. 2 (2008): 606-14.

51. K. Marie Krause and Garrett R. Oetzel, “Understanding and preventing subacute ruminal acidosis in dairy herds: A review,” Animal Feed Science and Technology 126, no. 3-4 (2006): 215-36.

52. “Cows on Factory Farms,” ASPCA, https://www.aspca.org/fight-cruelty/farm-animal-cruelty/cows-factory-farms (accessed November 6, 2014).

53. “What to do about downer cows?,” Hoard’s West, August 25, 2008, http://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/iawti/local-assets/pdfs/downer_workshop.pdf (accessed November 9, 2014).

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Cows [Beef]

possibly the “best” lives lived in industrialized farming
can live to 25yrs, but usually killed between 1-3yrs⁵⁴
fed unnatural diet which often leads to severe digestive disorders⁵⁵
branded, castrated, dehorned without analgesic⁵
while spend the majority of their life outside, they spend their last few months on a ‘feedlot’^57*

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Cows [Slaughter]⁵⁸

acceptable to withhold food/drink/rest for 53 hrs during transport⁵⁹
prodded, or conveyed, along a chute into a “knocking box”
stunned by a steel bolt to the forehead

this should render the animal completely unconscious and senseless

chain wrapped around leg[s] and hoisted up on an overhead rail
throat is cut, bled out, processed further

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Pigs

Cognitive facts

possibly the most intelligent domesticated animal on earth⁶⁰
can learn [in approx. 5hrs] to use a mirror to find hidden food⁶¹
excellent memories⁶²

easy to learn, difficult to forget⁶³

capable of deceptive behaviour⁶⁴
among the quickest animals to learn new things⁶⁵
prefer long-term social groups⁶⁶
can work with other pigs to free themselves from some pens⁶⁷
cognitive capacity similar to 3yr old human⁶⁸

Picture: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/17/factory-farming-facts_n_4063892.html

60. Katharine Gammon, “The 5 Smartest Non-Primates on the Planet,” livescience, July 29, 2011, http://www.livescience.com/33421-smartest-non-primates.html (accessed November 6, 2014).

61. Donald M. Broom, Hilana Sela, and Kiera L. Moynihan, “Pigs learn what a mirror image represents and use it to obtain information,” Animal Behaviour 78, no. 5 (2009): 1037-41, doi: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2009.07.027.

62. Natalie Angier, “Pigs Prove to be Smart, if Not Vain,” November 9, 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/10/science/10angier.html?_r=1& (accessed November 6, 2014).

63-66. Ibid.

67. Lisa Duchene, “Are pigs smarter than dogs?,” Penn State, May 8, 2006, quoted in “More about Pigs: The underestimated animal,” The Humane Society of the United States, November 2, 2009, http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/pigs/pigs_more.html (accessed November 6, 2014).

68. “More about Pigs: The underestimated animal,” The Humane Society of the United States, November 2, 2009, http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/pigs/pigs_more.html (accessed November 6, 2014).

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Pigs [Sows]⁶⁹

a life of pregnancy

6-7 pregnancies in 3-4 yrs

kept indoors in ‘gestation/farrowing crates’ throughout most of their lives
denied virtually all social interaction
unable to express species-specific behaviour
virtually no access to her piglets
incredibly stressful life
long term confinement causes stereotypies

pacing, bar biting, vacuum chewing

Gestation Crate

Phase out period by many buyers and producers⁷⁰

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Pigs

^{Varkensenzo.nl}¹

^{An initiative of Dutch pig farmers}

Advantages of group housing:⁷¹

A heated place to rest
A full feed trough
Fresh drinking water
A separate area for dunging
Toys such as a chain, a ball or a bag

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Pigs

CAFOs⁷² (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations)

99% of all pigs in US
large building, capable of holding approx. 2000 pigs, divided into pens

generally have no windows
concrete flooring w slats

one CAFO may have 10 bldgs on site
pigs are highly concentrated

aggression can result in injury^*

most are physically altered [eg. tails docked, castrated] without pain relief⁷³
receive little to no stimulus
incapable of expressing interests (e.g., rooting, foraging)
slaughtered at appro. 6 months, can live 20 years⁷⁴

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Pigs [slaughter]

can travel 41 hrs without food, drink, rest⁷⁵
stun‘em, hoist’em, stick’em

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Wendell Berry, Stupidity in Concentration, 2002.⁷⁶

“The principle of confinement in so-called animal science is derived from the industrial version of efficiency. The designers of animal factories appear to have had in mind the example of concentration camps or prisons, the aim of which is to house and feed the greatest numbers in the smallest space at the least expense of money, labor, and attention. To subject innocent creatures to such treatment has long been recognized as heartless. Animal factories make an economic virtue of heartlessness toward domestic animals, to which we humans owe instead a large debt of respect and gratitude.”