Many of today's farms are not what you'd probably think. Far from the idyllic family farm, many farms today are more like industrial facilities, pumping out huge volumes of 'product' at even larger profit.
These kinds of farms are what we call 'Factory Farms'. And although the exact definition of a Factory farm may vary from state to state, they all share some common characteristics.
First of all, a Factory Farm confines hundreds to thousands of animals (such as cows, pigs, chickens, and turkeys) in extremely tight spaces, and provides them with little or no access to sunlight, fresh air, room, or any semblance of a natural environment. Some of these facilities produce millions of animals yearly.
Secondly, and as a direct result of these conditions, Factory Farms have many public health problems among their population. This causes them to pump the animals full of antibiotics and hormones to fight disease and food borne illnesses.
Thirdly, Factory Farms employ liquid waste systems and 'lagoons' to store the raw manure produced by their animals.
Factory Farms also routinely mutilate the animals they confine. They employ such methods as debeaking poultry, clipping pigs' tails, pulling teeth, and docking cows' tails.
Factory Farms are vertically integrated. This means that a single corporation owns or controls the Factory Farm, the feed company, the slaughterhouse, and the final stages of production.
Lastly, Factory Farms are among the worst pollutors, as the animal waste and their carcassas are allowed to sit and rot, thus decreasing neighboring property values (odor and water pollution).
Obviously, these types of farms pose serious health risks to the animals which they 'produce'. However, some people argue that this fact is inconcequential to the consumer. Should you care about the conditions the animal whose meat you're eating grew in? If you care about your own health, they answer is a resounding "YES"!
