Imagine you are stolen from your mother at birth, hauled on a truck and put in a filthy, dark warehouse. While in this place you are stuffed into a suffocating, metal crate you can hardly move around in while you are fattened up with oats, corn, and hormones. You never see the outdoors and have no room to experience natural interactions or behaviors and therefore you develop mental and physical illnesses. The people in charge of the facility abuse you and manipulate your body parts. Then after a few years of this torture you are hung upside down, fully conscious in front of your own species, screaming in fear, while your throat is slit and all your blood drains out until you are slaughtered and killed. This is the life of a cow in a factory farm.

Over the past 25 years factory farms have been growing. Small farms have transformed into large industrialized factories where killing animals has become faster, more efficient, and its main purpose is to produce the biggest profit possible. However, factory farms have many major downfalls and these factories have negative effects on animals, public health, and also the environment.  Most people are unaware of what goes on in these factory farms. People don’t like to think about how their food gets on their plate but only that it’s there. In factory farms animals are taken away from their mothers at birth and forced into small confinements. Animals are not only crammed into minute cages but they are also subject to abuse through the manipulation of their bodies. Cows specifically make up a huge percent of the meat and dairy industries and more than 29 million are slaughtered every year in the United States. In these factory farms cows face many abuses and “when still very young, many cows are branded (burned with hot irons), dehorned (their horns are gouged out or cut or burned off), and castrated (male cattle have their testicles ripped out of their scrotums)—all without painkillers” (PETA, “Cows Used for Food”). This cruelty that takes place every day in factory farms is unnecessary and immoral and only done for profit at the expense of animals. Animals are no longer treated as living beings but are treated as nothing more than a product.

Many meat factories will claim their animals are “free range,” specifically chickens. The image most people picture when they hear “free range” is of cheerful chickens roaming around in green fields on a farm. However, this is not the truth and that is exactly what the industries want the public to think so that consumers can feel good about their purchase. The real meaning of “free range” is that chickens are not kept in cages but are kept in warehouses packed together so tight that they can barely spread their wings, trample each other to death, and rarely see the outdoors. From these conditions many times animals will develop mental illnesses from the lack of movement and natural interactions. Pigs are other animals who suffer and “each year millions of pregnant sows are kept in cages that are referred to as “gestation crates.” These crates are a cost cutting measure that keeps the pregnant pigs immobilized” (Alanna Ketler, “Collective Evolution”). These pregnant pigs are never able to move around and spend months sitting in one spot. This method is abusive to animals and this practice is so inhumane that it is banned in places such as the UK and Sweden.

So, why are factory farms so widespread? The reason factory farms have been rising over the years is mainly due to the massive profit they produce. These farms can produce food at a much faster rate, drop food prices drastically and make food more inexpensive. These facilities are also more efficient because they operate without the use of manual labor. Factory farms use various technologies that help produce products like meat and dairy quicker. Costs are also reduced because of the amount of space used to raise and kill animals. Animals are confined in such small spaces that make factory farms more efficient than regular farms because of their ability to utilize space. Furthermore with the growth of factory farms it takes less time for food to be marketed. There have been major advancements in producing, packaging, and delivering which allows the food products to be delivered to stores at a much faster rate.

Factory farms, besides proving to be inhumane in the treatment of living beings, also  pose threats to public health and the environment. Due to the poor living conditions of animals in factory farms, disease is prevalent and animals that live in these disgusting conditions can breed illnesses. As a consequence these diseases end up contaminating meat and eggs which humans consume. The spread of disease is made worse because the waste of animals, which includes the remains of dead animals and manure, is fed to the animals being raised for milk or meat production. This entire system is disturbing and millions of animals die each year due to this process. By factories turning the dead animals into food, they can save money on disposal costs and feeding costs simultaneously. To make matters worse the “U.S.D.A. (United States Department of Agriculture) explicitly allows diseased animals to be slaughtered and sold for human food, because excluding these animals would result in financial losses for agribusiness” (Baur, “Factory Farming is Not the Best We Have to Offer”). Humans are not only negatively affected, but factory farms are detrimental to the environment as well.

The sad truth about factory farms are that they are the leading supply of global warming, water depletion, deforestation, and species extinction. Factory farms produce 18% of greenhouse gases which is more than the total emissions of transportation. Studies also show that livestock and their byproducts account for at least 32 billion tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year (Andersen, Kuhn, Cowspiracy). Factory farms are responsible for 80-90% of water consumption. People are so concerned with lessening their ecological footprint and reducing the amount of water they waste but what they fail to understand is that the money they are spending on meat and dairy products is the main cause for negative effects on the environment and the depletion of the water supply. To produce just one pound of beef, 2,500 gallons of water are needed. Studies also show that a person who follows a plant based diet for one day will save “1,100 gallons of water, 45 pounds of grain, 30 sq ft of forested land, 20 lbs CO2 equivalent, and one animal’s life” (Andersen, Kuhn, Cowspiracy). If people are interested in helping out animals and the environment then they should avoid investing their money in products produced at factory farms.

Factory farms are a universal problem that create negative effects on animals, public health, and the earth. It is our job as responsible, civilized individuals to stand up for all creatures, large and small and stop the mistreatment of animals. It is important to recognize the abuse that is present in factory farms and it is necessary to understand that the quality of life should always come before the value of money.