What is factory farming?

Factory farming is a method of operating a farm in which a high number of animals are raised in confined spaces. The name comes from the core idea behind factory farming — that the farm operates as a factory. The goal of factory farming is strictly business: how much profit can be made?

The obvious consequence of factory farming is that animals in factory farms are viewed as product, as merchandise rather than as living animals. The comfort and well-being of these animals is not generally considered beyond any legal restrictions that may be put into place, and the business loss of having too many of them die or become infected with disease.

In factory farms, animals generally live in horrible conditions. They are crammed into small spaces, overfed and not moved. Poultry farms grow chickens so large that they often break their legs under their own weight. Egg and poultry farms usually kill male chicks upon birth, since they provide less meat and no eggs, and debeak chickens to prevent them from hurting each other — so that they can be confined to small spaces without risk to the “merchandise”. Pork farmers keep high numbers of pigs in cofined spaces, while dairy farms repeatedly breed cows in order to maintain their high milk production. Dairy farms also sell off most of their male calves to be starved and deprived of nutrients in order to produce desired veal.

The fact that factory farming provides most of the dairy and egg products to developed nations is a strong case for veganism, as opposed to vegeterianism. The dairy industry directly provides meat for the veal industry, while egg chickens live some of the most miserable lives of all factory-farmed animals. In a sense, some vegans may consider eggs less ethical than beef, because cows raised for beef arguably live better lives than the egg-laying chickens.

Factory farming represents the most widescale abuses of animal rights and animal welfare in the modern world, and causes pain and hardship to animals on an unprecedented level. All of it to satisfy the taste (and not the nutritional requirements) of the human population.