Industrial Livestock Farming and Its Problems

"Alabama Travel-262" by beigeinside

     Cows, pigs, chicken, and many other animals have been a large part of human meat intake for longer than I’ve lived. Over time, technology has helped keep more animals fed and controlled in smaller spaces, thus producing more meat for the world. However, this has resulted in many problems. The methane released into the atmosphere is dangerously high, all because of the farts leaving the animals themselves and multiple sources. Animals are treated inhumanely, live cruel lives, and are always in constant fear and stress. The quality of the meat we intake from these industrial farms are usually high in fat. Letting the animals graze in open fields throughout their lifetime before death will bring many benefits and let the animals live a humane life before their inevitable death. In the future, lab meat could possibly revolutionize how we produce meat on a large scale.
     The technology that our species has developed over the time of its existence is phenomenal. Tracking and managing livestock has never been easier than before after we’ve moved from analog to digital. Electronic tagging systems help track who needs more nourishment and disease treatment over other animals at any time given. All in all, prices of meat are kept down for customers, automation is greatly utilized than ever before, production of meat is efficient, and industrial livestock farms can be built almost anywhere. The work that farmers and scientists have put into developing industrial factory farms and genetically modified animals has helped feed more and more mouths around the world as our population grows exponentially, leaving more families with happy bellies. However, not everything is perfect. Many moral and environmental issues arise.
First, our environment is at a critical state, and the industrial livestock are only adding onto that problem. Animal agriculture is on such a grand scale that it takes up around 15% of the greenhouse gasses emitted, “weighing in at around 7.1 Gigatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents being released into the atmosphere per year, with mainly methane and nitrous oxide being the culprit” (Grossi). It’s not only the massive population of the animals themselves releasing gasses, but also the feed production, manure storage, and processing/transporta
tion that adds onto the issue.

"It's a cows life." by DannyCarrFilms

  Next, the animals that we slaughter have feelings, just like us humans do, and they’re in constant stress and inhumane living conditions the moment they open and set their eyes on their realization of utter doom. The animals are usually kept in tight living conditions, sometimes even restricting any movement whatsoever like pigs and cows. The goal of these industrial farms is to produce as much meat as possible, which results in the workers not seeing the animals as living beings, along with the animals being fed questionable qualities of food. They are meant for food, I can’t deny that, but they need to be treated much better so that they can have a much more humane living condition throughout their short lives. The documentary DOMINION shows footage of the inner workings of these factory farms; depressing and gory enough to make most humans sick. Personally, if I was conscious enough to understand the situation around me as an animal in a factory farm like these, I would just be better off ending myself right away with a quick method rather than enduring such a cruel life.
     Moving on, the meat produced in these factory farms usually result with high fat content. Factory livestock usually sit in tight spaces throughout their lifetime, usually with little to no access in movement. Yes, this even means no pasture grazing, running, playing, or any physical activities whatsoever, just standing and sitting. This means that the food taken in by factory animals only leads to their fat build up. Additionally, a major reason for why these livestock are releasing so much methane is that there is little to no use for the nutrients in the major muscles, as there is little to no movement, so there’s no other place to go to other than fat or gas buildup. If the livestock had space to walk around, play, and exercise, their lives would be a little bit less worse, methane wouldn’t be released in such great quantities, and the cows would even have a more natural and self sustainable general food source if they were to be on a grassy field: grass! Letting the animals walk around in the open could even provide more job openings for workers that need to keep an eye on, herd, and gate-keep for the animals. This might bring up the price of meat a tad bit, but the average American populace should be able to handle it.

"Y Archives - 2003 - SILA - Turkey Farm" by universityymca

     Out of all of the strategies used for large scale meat production, I still don’t think that the way the livestock are treated should have an excuse at all. Luckily, there might be a more humane and efficient way to produce meat in the future years to come: lab-grown meat! After reading the article by Specht, I’m actually glad and surprised that funding and work towards lab grown meat is growing better than ever now. One of the reasons for the recent spike in its development is happening in our world as we speak: the Covid-19 spread from animals to humans, which led to our current epidemic. In addition with meat production hopefully being modernized to lab grown meat, the number of livestock field acreage will possibly start reducing in size, which will allow for more plant farming, wildlife, housing, and recreational space around the globe. Less cow, pig, chicken, and other animal populations will have to suffer the fate of factory livestock farming. Additionally, vegans and vegetarians could someday start eating and enjoying meat in the future, as it will most likely not come from mass murdered animals. However, as Kunzig explains, “cultured meat would cost at least $240 a pound—high even for Whole Foods”, so we still have a lot of work ahead of us.
      All in all, our world is still developing new technologies and strategies of getting food and meat to people around the world. Problem is, some of these methods are more harmful than helpful in the long run. Family farms are pretty ok, as they treat their animals with compassion and great care, and also use sustainable means of livestock food production, land usage, environmental protection, and water conservation. However, industrial factory farms are a whole other story with their inhumane treatment of animals and the harm they’re causing to the atmosphere and surrounding environments via greenhouse gasses and questionable waste disposal methods. Giving these poor animals some more free walking space could bring some light into the dirty business and the possible future of lab-grown meat could greatly change the world positively.

Works Cited

Grossi, et al. “Livestock and Climate Change: Impact of Livestock on Climate and Mitigation
     Strategies.” OUP Academic, Oxford University Press, 12 Nov. 2018,
      https://academic.oup.com/af/article/9/1/69/5173494.
Watch Dominion (2018) - Full Documentary - Dominion Movement - Animal Rights Documentary
      DOMINION | We Will Rise Together, https://www.dominionmovement.com/watch.
Specht, Liz. “Modernizing Meat Production Will Help Us Avoid Pandemics.” Wired, Conde Nast,
     https://www.wired.com/story/opinion-modernizing-meat-production-will-help-us-avoid-pandemics/.
Kunzig, Robert “Test-Tube Meat: Have Your Pig and Eat it Too” Food Matters. 2nd ed., edited by
     Holly Bauer, Bedford St. Martin’s, 2017, pp. 307-310.