Cows

Beef cattle are the best treated animals in modern animal agriculture. These cows spend most of their lives roaming vast expanses of land and are minimally handled. Yet, there are several welfare concerns that do exist in the modern beef industry. Procedures such as branding, castration and dehorning are performed without anesthesia and pain medication causing pain and distress to these cows.

Transportation is problematic throughout modern animal agriculture and this industry is no exception. Rough handling throughout the process, exposure to environmental extremes (severe hot and cold weather), and overall stress is pervasive through this entire process. Many of these animals end up on feedlots to fatten them up before slaughter. Feedlots commonly have poor sanitation, lack shelter from inclement weather, and are associated with various health problems related to high grain diets fed to fatten the cows up.

Finally, cattle find their way to a slaughterhouse. The stress that cows experience in these facilities, during the last moments of life, are unimaginable. They can smell, hear, and often see the slaughter of those before them. The major welfare concerns in slaughterhouses are associated with rendering the cow unconscious before bleeding them to death. Captive bolt stunning does not render all cows unconscious which results in some animals being bleed and processed (skinned and cut into pieces) while still conscience. As inhumane as this might sound, stunning is forbidden in kosher and Muslim slaughter.

One bright note for the welfare of cows is regarding “downer cows”. “Downers” are cows that are so sick or injured that they can not walk. Historically, some of these animals have been drug to market or let to die without veterinary care. Fortunately, recent USDA reforms have stopped the worst abuses of these animals. However, these reforms only apply to cattle, so “downer” sheep, pigs, and other farm animals continue to be inhumanely treated.

Pigs

Due to the intelligence of pigs and their complex behavior, the extremely intensive housing and management that they are subjected to on factory farms is especially difficult on them. Probably the number one welfare concern for pigs is confinement and the conditions in which they live. Most pigs are overcrowded into sheds on concrete floors, without straw bedding, and surrounded by metal bars where they spend their entire life. This intensive confinement is responsible for a host of physical and psychological disorders. Due to the poor air quality in these sheds laden with dust and noxious gases which are produced by the animals' urine and feces, Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS) is rampant on modern pig farms. This confinement is also responsible crippling leg abnormalities, obesity, and various neurotic coping behaviors.

Farrowing and gestation crates are severely restrictive crates used on pregnant pigsand pigs who recently gave birth. Some pigs are confined to these crates for months that are so small that they can not turn around. Some of these crates pin the pig on her side so that she can not even stand. These crates deny them normal maternal behavior such as nesting, which is incredibly stressful.

Like cows, piglets between 1and 10 days after birth are subjected to many invasive procedures without anesthesia and pain medication. They include ear-notching, teeth-clipping, tail-docking, and castration.

Unfortunately, the same humane concerns that exist for cows in regards to transport and slaughter exist for pigs. Being intelligent and very sensitive animals seems to make them even more sensitive to stressors. Pigs have to endure rough handling, severe weather extremes, overcrowding, and food/water deprivation during transport. Stunning of pigs for slaughter is even more imprecise than in cows. It is not uncommon for pigs not to be successfully bled to death before they are boiled alive in a scalding tank.

Chickens

Chickens are the most intensively confined and most inhumanely treated of all farmed animals. Chickens are exploited in two ways: for meat (broilers) and for eggs (layers). Through selective breeding, the chickens involved in each of these industries are very different. One group is very efficient at producing muscle mass (meat) while the other eggs and there is little overlap in these industries.

Broiler chickens reach market weight by the time they are 7 weeks of age, which is nearly a reduction of two-thirds from the time it took the traditional broiler. Such fast growth has resulted in a plethora of health problems such as leg weakness, heart disease, and sudden death. They are overcrowded into sheds with ten thousand to twenty thousand other birds. Due to the vast number of chickens confined together, sick birds go undetected and no individual veterinary care is provided.

Fish

Fish and other marine life do experience pain and have complex social behaviors. One of the biggest concerns with commercial fishing is the incidental deaths and environmental destruction caused by several mile long nets that indiscriminately catch everything in their path. As it’s impossible to catch only certain species with nets, hundreds of thousands of “non-target” animals-- including seals, whales, dolphins, sea turtles, and birds-- become entangled in the nets and die.

Aquaculture, the factory farming of fish, has similar problems associated with intensive confinement such as overcrowding, disease, excessive use of disinfectants and herbicides, and pollution.
Photos courtesy of Farm Sanctuary.