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Pros And Cons Of Factory Farming

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Factory farming is a common farming method of confining animals such as chickens and pigs in tiny cramped places for mass food production, to get the best profit out of their product. Environmentalist and Animal Rights Activists strongly disagree with this way of food production as it causes stress and harm to the animals. Animals have the right to freedom and a happy, healthy life. But on the other side of the argument farmers and food companies say that without factory farming they wouldn’t be able to produce the same amount of food at the same price and in the same time. And then they’d have to put up meat prices in order to accommodate the new system. The Animal Rights activists are thinking about the animals whereas the farmers are …show more content…

The problem with this method is the piglets are removed from the mother after 1 month; usually the piglets stay with their mother after several months, giving them the chance to grow and learn to fend for themselves. The tails are removed and the teeth clipped- this is without pain relief, then they are then crammed into pens along with many others and stay there until they are deemed large enough for slaughter. https://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-food/factory-farming/pigs/pork-industry/ https://www2.stetson.edu/library/green/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/prize_2012Wanninger.pdf Farmers are allowed to use farrow crates for four weeks while the sow feeds her piglets until they are weaned off. The farmers want to make as much ‘product’ for as little as possible, so they strongly believe that this method helps because the sow is usually around 300kg which is more than enough weight to squash and accidently kill her piglets. So by putting her and her piglets into a smaller area, there is no way she could potential harm her babies because she literally cannot move. The farrow crates also make spotting sick and injured animal easier and they can quickly remove them without having to chase them round or worry about the mother trying to protect her young. According to farmers in the pig industry about 30 per cent of the pigs live outdoors while the other 70 per cent are kept inside. If the laws where to change, forcing farmers to

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