Factory farming, foie gras, humane slaughter, slaughterhouses, humane slaughter act, Temple Grandin, history of evolution of farming from small family farms to corporate entities

1. This work by Valerie Lang Waldin, J.D., M.L.S.
Associate Professor Emerita HVCC is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

2. But farm animals include any animals, domesticated or wild, which are farmed
for a variety of reasons.
This is what you think when you think of a
farm animal, right?

4. USDA defines “farm” broadly as any operation
with the potential to produce at least $1,000
worth of agricultural goods in a given year.

5.  While most U.S. farms are small – 91 percent
according to the Census of Agriculture – large
farms ($250,000 and above) account for 85
percent of the market value of agricultural
production.
 Moreover, the number of small commercial
farms, as well as their share of sales, has
shrunk over time.

6.  Production is shifting to larger farms
because economies of scale reduce costs
in some tasks, and because modern tillage
systems, seeds, and equipment reduce the
time needed to perform other tasks.
 Farmers who are able to assemble the
needed land and equipment can now run
bigger farms than they could 25 years
ago.

7.  Most are raised to be killed.
 Some are more profitable alive.
◦ Egg laying chickens
◦ Sheep for wool
◦ Horses, mules & burros for their physical abilities
◦ Bees for honey

8. Farming and Farm Income
American agriculture and rural life underwent a tremendous transformation in the 20th
century. Early 20th century agriculture was labor intensive, and it took place on many small,
diversified farms in rural areas where more than half the U.S. population lived. Agricultural
production in the 21st century, on the other hand, is concentrated on a smaller number of
large, specialized farms in rural areas where less than a fourth of the U.S. population lives.
Source: USDA

9.  After peaking at 6.8
million farms in 1935,
the number of U.S. farms
fell sharply until the early
1970s. Rapidly falling
farm numbers during the
earlier period reflected
growing productivity in
agriculture and increased
nonfarm employment
opportunities. Since
then, the number of U.S.
farms has continued to
decline, but much more
slowly.

10.  Technological
developments in agriculture
have been influential in
driving changes in the farm
sector. Innovations in
animal and crop genetics,
chemicals, equipment, and
farm organization have
enabled continuing output
growth without adding
much to inputs. As a result,
even as the amount of land
and labor used in farming
declined, total farm output
nearly tripled between 1948
and 2019.

11.  As of May 21, 2018, the 7.6 billion
humans on Earth equated to just
0.01 percent of all the world’s
inhabitants, however, the species
maintains a significant impact on
other life forms.
 Since civilization was established,
the human race has caused the
loss of 83 percent of all wild
animals and 50 percent of all
plants.
 Simultaneously, livestock farmed
for human consumption represents
a large portion of animals on
Earth, meaning the natural
harmonious balance between
species is decreasing while
farming animals for food is
increasing.

12. U.S. Livestock Business Critics
 :
 Farm animals are well treated.
 Farm animals must be thriving
because there are so many of
them.
 American Meat Institute –
“Optimal handling is ethically
appropriate, creates positive
workplaces and ensures higher
quality meat products.”
 High productivity is an
indicator of the efficiency of
the system, not the well
being of the animals in the
system.
 Undercover footage which is
the rule and not the
exception.

13. Farm animals have nowhere near the legal
protection of companion animals.

14. 2005 – Compassion Over Killing undercover video prompted USDA to do its own
investigation, resulting in the law applying to livestock transported in trucks
too.
Federal 28 Hour Law of 1873 – rail only

15. LIVESTOCK HAD TO BE RENDERED INSENSITIVE TO PAIN BEFORE BEING SLAUGHTERED
But what really happens?
Humane Slaughter Act of 1958

17. Specific goals of these organizations include
spreading awareness and advocacy for these
animals: illuminating what the public does not
see.

18. • Animal Policy & Regulatory Issues
Farmers’ sales of livestock, dairy, and poultry account for
over half of U.S. agricultural cash receipts. Since 2015, cash
receipts from animal products have exceeded $160 billion
per year. This topic page covers issues that are relevant to
different livestock commodities, such as price reporting or
animal health and welfare.
• Cattle & Beef
The United States has the largest fed-cattle industry in the
world, and is the world's largest producer of beef, primarily
high-quality, grain-fed beef for domestic and export use.
• Dairy
Milk is produced in all 50 States, with the major producing
States in the West and North. Dairy farms, overwhelmingly
family-owned and managed, are generally members of
producer cooperatives.
• Hogs & Pork
A striking feature of the U.S. hog industry has been the rapid
shift to fewer and larger operations, associated with
technological change and evolving industry structure.
• Poultry & Eggs
The U.S. poultry industry is the world's largest producer and
second-largest exporter of poultry meat and is a major egg
producer.
• Sheep, Lamb & Mutton
The U.S. sheep and wool industries have seen significant
change since the mid-1970s, marked by smaller inventories,
declining production, shrinking revenues, and fewer
operations.

19. So they must arrive alive at the slaughterhouse. Cannot be drugged.
Byproducts (or rendered products) include hooves, bones, beaks, feet, feathers,
fat, inedible organs and tissues to become gelatin, soap, candles, lubricants,
paints, varnishes, cement, pharmaceuticals, pet food, toothpaste and cosmetics.
Animals killed for meat must be processed
immediately.

20.  Prior to 1997, livestock were fed these
byproducts as protein supplements.
 1997, USDA outlawed this practice for cattle
to prevent the spread of Mad Cow Disease.
◦ Rendering plants also process whole carcasses of
farm animals that die of illness and other dead
animals, such as euthanized pets.

21. Standard? Or cruel?
No anesthetic

22. Culling is rejection of inferior or undesirable animals. Example: male chicks of laying
breeds will never lay eggs and are not acceptable meat chickens. So, millions are
routinely killed each year when they are one day old. You read that right: millions.
Culling

23. Centuries-old practice. Rationale: control of population, reduces aggressive
behavior, better tasting meat
Castration

24. What do you think the rationale for this is?
Dehorning

25. Branding Tail docking

26. What is a farm?

27. Many people think of a farm…

28. Reality is massive industrial type facilities
owned by corporations

29. Of the 2.2 million farms reported by USDA statistics
in 2007, 800,000 were owned and operated by
individuals and families.
But many of these farms operate under contract to
corporate farming operations.

30. Both AFOs (animal feeding operations) and CAFOs (concentrated
animal feeding operations) are highly concentrated.
No grazing areas are allowed, in order to feed, house, medicate and process the
animals with ‘efficiency’.

31. Females are artificially inseminated. Pregnancies
are spaced close together.
Mothers and offspring are separated quickly to keep
the process moving.
Antibiotics, hormones, and growth enhancing drugs
are used to ensure rapid growth and prevent deadly
diseases. The goal: meat quantity.

32. ECONOMIC, LABOR COSTS
DOWN, PRODUCTION UP
ANIMALS…
 Lots of meat at cheap
prices
 Food dispensed with
machines
 Eggs collected by
conveyor belts
 Chickens (who are
intelligent sensitive
animals) don’t see
humans until slaughter
 Animal Abuses
 Old days – animals
were more cared for –
a bond with the
farmers – if an animal
was sick it was noticed
and cared for

33. Eat vegetation…

40. Beef cattle shipped by rail to places like
Chicago and Kansas City for slaughter.
Add refrigeration and electricity and
slaughterhouses were able to move to rural
areas.

41.  1950s
◦ Large meat companies set up feedlots for cattle and
corn became the primary feed for beef cattle.
◦ Before this, cattle mostly ate grass.
◦ Corn-fed beef has a richer more fatty taste and
cattle raised on these diets get fatter more quickly.
◦ Add that to the fact that it’s cheaper and demand
for corn-fed beef rose.

42. The Humane Methods of Slaughter Act,
which requires that animals be rendered insensible to
pain prior to slaughter, is the only major law affecting
the handling of farm animals.
A few states have humane slaughter
provisions but enforcement is lacking.
Federal Humane Methods of
Slaughter Act

44.  To mark cows for identification, ranchers may
restrain them and press hot fire irons into
their flesh, which can cause third-degree
burns, as they bellow in pain and attempt to
escape.
 Often without providing any pain relief,
workers typically cut male calves’ testicles
from their scrotums or tightly clamp them so
that they atrophy, and the horns of cows
raised for beef are often cut or burned off.

45.  While “on the range,” most cows receive
inadequate veterinary care, and as a result,
many become sick or die from infection and
injury.
 In the winter, cattle freeze to death in states
such as Nebraska, South Dakota, and
Wyoming. And during the summer, they die
from the heat in states such as Kansas and
Texas.

46.  After about a year of enduring harsh weather
extremes, cows are shipped to an auction lot
and then may be sent hundreds of miles away
to massive feedlots—feces- and mud-filled
holding pens where they’re crammed
together by the thousands. Many are sick on
arrival, and some die shortly afterward.

47.  Cattle on feedlots are fed a highly unnatural
diet of grain and corn, which is designed to
fatten them up quickly. This food can cause
their stomachs to become so full of gas—a
condition called bloat—that breathing may
become impaired because of compression of
the lungs.
 Some may suffer from a severe increase in
stomach acid, causing ulcers to form and
resulting in a condition called “acute
acidosis.”

48.  The feedlot air is saturated with ammonia,
methane, and other noxious chemicals that
build up from the huge amounts of manure,
and the cows are forced to inhale these gases
constantly. These fumes can give them
chronic respiratory problems, making
breathing painful.

49.  Cattle raised for food are also regularly dosed with
drugs such as antibiotics to make them grow faster
and keep them alive in these miserable conditions.
Some of the antibiotics, including penicillin and
tetracycline, are also used to treat humans but don’t
always work when prescribed, because the patients
have been exposed to antibiotic-resistant bacteria
and low doses of antibiotics as a result of consuming
meat, milk, or eggs from animals who were fed the
same drugs.
 Researchers at Texas Tech University suspect that
drug-resistant bacteria found in cattle feedlots can
become airborne and cause hard-to-treat infections
in humans.

50.  According to the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention, 2 million people contract
antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections each
year, and approximately 23,000 of them die.
 Eating antibiotic-free meat is not a solution.
It’s still high in cholesterol and saturated fat
and contributes to a person’s risk of suffering
from heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and
obesity.

51. The Dairy Industry

52. See

53. https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/dairy-data/ (also on class website)
Dairy Data

54. Dairy cows = Milk
producing machines
• Most dairy cows live in
small indoor stalls or are
confined to large dirt pens
called dry lots.
• The fact is, to produce milk,
cows must have calves.
• Therefore, dairy cows are
kept pregnant almost
constantly, through artificial
insemination.
• Calves are taken away as
soon as possible after birth
so they don’t drink the milk.
• Any male calf or cow that
ceases to produce milk is
slaughtered for beef.
• Health problems include
mastitis, lameness due to
back and leg problems.

55. One of the most controversial drugs given
to dairy cattle: bovine growth hormone
(BGH) which can increase milk production
by 25% - used in dairy herds since 1993
BGH enlarges cows’ udders so much that cows suffer from spine
and back problems not to mention dragging their udders in dirt and
manure. BGH is banned in Europe and Canada.

56. Many are killed because they are lame while being raised,
or sent to slaughter when adults, as “downers”, sold for as
little as $1.
 Dairy cattle spend long
periods of time on
concrete surfaces,
metal gratings, and dry
lots.

57. There could be many reasons for this ranging from metabolic or toxic problems,
to trauma and infections. We’ll come back to downed cattle a little later in the
PowerPoint.
A downed cow is too sick to stand.

59. Veal is meat from young calves raised to
produce light, delicate flesh.
Veal farmers buy unwanted calves from the dairy
industry and raise them for veal.

60. Separated early from their mothers –
extremely confined – no exercise or muscle
Fed diets low in iron so they are kept light in color – become
anemic – can’t stand up and have health problems. This (low iron
diets and extreme confinement) is banned in Britain.

61. The highest veal consumption in the past 100 years was 8.4 pounds per person in
1944 during World War II. In 1995, Americans consumed about .8 lbs (about 3/4 lb) of
veal per person yearly, down from 2.8 lbs in 1975. In 2011, veal consumption had
dropped to .3 lbs. (less than 1/2 pound).
Source: USDA 2019
Veal consumption

63. Cattle are directed single file through a chute that leads to the stunner, which
shoots a stun bolt into the animal’s forehead and supposedly renders the
animal unconscious.
Preferred method of slaughter is stun gun.

64. The animal is then hoisted up with one leg and its throat is cut. The animal is hoisted so
that no animal falls into the blood of other slaughtered animals. Then the animal moves
down the assembly line to other processing stations where its tail, hocks & hide are
removed and the belly is cut open.
Slaughterhouse

66.  5 main performance categories (also see class website
https://www.grandin.com/welfare.audit.using.haccp.html:
◦ Stunning proficiency
◦ Insensibility on the bleed rail
◦ Electric prod usage
◦ Slipping and falling cattle
◦ Vocalizing cattle

67.  “Survey of Stunning and Handling in Federally
Inspected Beef, Veal, Pork, and Sheep
Slaughter Plants”
◦ Only 3 out of 10 were able to stun at least 95% of
the cattle with one shot.
◦ Problems with maintenance, supervision, too much
use of electric prods, transport of downed animals
with forklifts

68.  28 of the 44 plants stunned 99% - 100% of
the cattle on the first captive bolt shot.
◦ That means 16 out of 44 did not.
◦ And this was during a planned, prepared-for audit
where procedures were undoubtedly cleaned up.
◦ 8 of the 44 plants failed the audit.
◦ Grandin says plants must have zero tolerance.

70. 2001 USDA records and worker interviews of workers (making $9 an hour)
claimed to see many conscious cattle moving down the bleed rail.
“They Die Piece by Piece.”

71. Between 1996-1997 alone, 527 recorded
violations in which live animals were skinned, cut
or scalded

72. That’s about 7 animals a minute or one every 10 seconds. A line is supposed to stop
when a conscious animal is detected but according to reports this does not happen, and
if it did, production would be slower.
Most plants process around 400 animals per
hour.

74.  Mostly dairy cattle
 Illness, injury or other causes
 Tossed alive onto trash heaps or dragged
around stockyards

75.  Animal groups have tried to get the Downed
Animal Protection Act passed by Congress
which would require critically ill or injured
farm animals be humanely euthanized.
◦ Then in 2003 a downed cow in Washington State
tested positive for mad cow disease.
 The USDA quickly announced a ban on the processing
of downed cattle for human consumption unless the
animal was deemed fit for slaughter by a veterinarian.

76. Hallmark Westland Meat Company scandal
HSUS Rocks the Boat, Again
And again

77. Of the nearly 34 million cattle that were slaughtered in 2007,
less than 1,000 cattle that were re-inspected were actually
approved by the veterinarian for slaughter. This represents less
than 0.003 percent of cattle slaughtered annually.

78.  Ban on “Downer Cattle” from food supply
 The Obama administration permanently banned the
slaughter of cows too sick or weak to stand on
their own, seeking to further minimize the chance
that mad cow disease could enter the food supply.
 The Agriculture Department proposed the ban last
year after the biggest beef recall in U.S. history.
The recall involved a Chino, Calif., slaughterhouse
and "downer" cows.

79. Jews and Muslims

80. Jewish = “kosher” Muslim = “halal”
Teachings require animals killed for food be
moving and healthy

81. Religious slaughter
Exempt under Federal Humane
Slaughter Act
As long as animal suffers loss of consciousness by
anemia of the brain caused by the instantaneous
severance of the carotid arteries
…But therefore cattle are not stunned before being
bled out.

82. .
 Animals that struggle against restraints stay
conscious the longest.

83. The idea is to induce “near immediate collapse” with throat cutting that is done
precisely with a razor sharp knife. Jewish law requires removal of the lymph nodes
and sciatic nerve which is difficult to do on the hindquarters so these portions of the
animal are often sold in commercial markets. See page 66, textbook.
There are upright devices recommended but
not required by the law.

84. Chickens, turkeys, geese and ducks

85.  Most common – 2018 - 9 billion broilers
 Highly social – pecking order – usually one male
and a dozen or so females
 Average lifespan 6-10 years
 Like to forage, peck, flap wings, take dust baths
 Hens prefer to lay eggs in a private nest.
 If the hen has mated with a rooster, the eggs
become chicks.

86. Pecked to death, eaten, injured
Factory farming’s solution - debeaking
Conditions like this lead to aggression.

87. The National Chicken Council (NCC), based in Washington, D.C., is the national, non-
profit trade association representing the U.S. chicken industry. NCC is a full-service
trade association that promotes and protects the interests of the chicken industry and
is the industry’s voice before Congress and federal agencies. NCC member companies
include chicken producer/processors, poultry distributors, and allied industry firms.
The producer/processors account for approximately 95 percent of the chickens
produced in the United States.
National Chicken Council

88. Day old chicks are moved into chicken hatcheries where food and water are
dispensed by machine. Antibiotics are given to prevent spread of diseases and
drugs are administered to speed up growth.
Broiler chicks

89. Egg production is way up but consumption PER CAPITA is down – meaning there
is increased demand from food manufacturers and restaurants but individually
Americans are eating less.
Laying hens

90. Only females are kept. Males are killed, either by suffocation or grinders,
because of their breeding (by humans) which makes them not meaty enough for
human consumption.
Laying-hen chicks are sorted when they are
one day old.

91. Banned in Europe, forced molting is the practice of causing stress to egg-laying
hens, usually through starvation, so that they will produce larger eggs later.
This practice is common among large factory farms, where egg-laying hens live
in battery cages that are so crowded, the birds cannot fully extend their wings.
Forced Molting

92. Outlawed in Austria, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland and E.U.
About 95% of all egg laying hens are confined
to battery cages.

93. Cage Free

94.  Beginning 2015
 Will outlaw caging of farm animals so that
they cannot stand, turn around, lie down or
full extend their limbs
 So how do you think this will play out?
◦ Estimated to increase production costs by 20%
◦ Egg prices in CA probably will not go up because
out of state egg producers will start marketing their
eggs in CA.
 Eliminate CA’s egg industry in a few years…?

95. See http://cagefreeca.com/about-the-
issue/prop-2-timeline/ (also on class website)

96. Humane Methods of Slaughter Act does NOT apply to poultry so chickens do not
have to be made unconscious before their throats are slit.
Chicken Slaughter

97.  Gathered by feet and carried upside down to
crates
 Shackled upside down to a conveyor belt
 If they are made unconscious prior to their
throats being slit (some slaughterhouses have
this) their heads are dunked in water while an
electric current passes through the shackles
to make the chicken unconscious.

98.  Birds then pass by an automated cutting
blade which slits their throat.
 Blood drains and after about 90 seconds they
are dipped in scalding water to loosen their
feathers before being forwarded to the
cutting stations.
◦ Just part of a regular night’s work

99. Grandin noted from a 2006 audit of 19 poultry plants that 5 of these plants passed the
audit even though there were serious abuses. Grandin maintains that “when plants are
required to uphold a higher standard, they are capable of doing it. Unfortunately there
are some people in the producer community who want to make standards so low that
even the worst places can pass.”
National Chicken Council Standards = Lax

101. Raised the same way broiler chickens are raised. Unnatural crowding leads to
pecking and cannibalism. Slaughtered at 3-6 months. Production steadily
increasing.
Modern turkeys are bred to gain weight fast.

103. Ducks Geese
 Raised indoors
 Big states: Wisconsin
& Indiana
 Federal law (FDA)
prohibits use of
hormones
 Slaughtered by
electrocution baths &
throat slitting
 Raised inside for first 6
weeks then outside
 Big states: California
and S. Dakota
 Federal law prohibits
use of hormones
 Slaughtered by
electrocution baths &
throat slitting

104. Also see class website.

105. This causes the birds’ livers to become fatty and swollen 6-10 times their
normal size.
Foie gras comes from force feeding male
ducks and geese a rich mixture of corn, fat,
salt and water.

106. An electric pump forces the mixture down the bird’s throat through a12”-16”
tube, several times a day. They are kept in cramped cages to keep them from
losing weight.
About 2-4 weeks prior to slaughter the
process starts.

107. Animal advocacy groups maintain the birds suffer pain from
unusually swollen abdomens and throat lesions.
Autopsies have revealed severe liver, heart and esophagus disorders.

108.  Considered a delicacy
 About $50 a pound
 Mostly comes from France
 Production has been banned in Denmark,
Finland, Germany, Israel, Norway, Poland,
Sweden, Switzerland and the U.K.
 California passed a law in 2004 to ban the
production and sale in CA, effective 2012.

109. Both in Sullivan County, NY
LaBelle Foie Gras and Hudson Valley Foie Gras

110. Domesticated swine

111. Some facts: A pig is a young swine that is not sexually mature. A young female hog is
called a gilt and an adult female hog is called a sow. Hogs is a generic term. Hogs are
curious, intelligent and supposedly smarter than dogs. Pregnant sows like to build
nests of grass and under natural conditions give birth to piglets (a litter averages 8)
twice a year. Normal life expectancy is 12-15 years.

112. The U.S. hog industry has undergone significant
structural changes in the last 40 years, the most of
important of which has been the rapid shift to fewer
and larger operations. Since 1990, the number of
farms with hogs has declined by more than 70 percent,
as individual enterprises have grown larger.
Large operations that specialize in a single phase of
production have replaced farrow-to-finish operations
that performed all phases of production. The use of
production contracts has increased.

113. Up to 12,000 – concrete or slatted floors – short tethers or in cages to keep the
animals fatty (and not toughen the meat) – aggression due to crowding – tail docking
and teeth clipping are standard without anesthetic– antibiotics, hormones
Hog-Raising Practices

114. Breeding sows are kept in stalls or tethered until ready to give birth. Gestation
crates are about 7’ – 2’ . She eats, urinates and defecates where she stands.
In 2006 – USDA reported almost 70% of sows on U.S. farms give birth this way.
Spent breeding sows are slaughtered at 2-3 years of age. The piglets are
slaughtered at 4-6 months of age when they reach about 250 lbs.
Gestation Crates

115. Industry Officials Animal Advocates
 Crates are necessary to
keep aggressive sows
from fighting and
therefore miscarrying
fetuses.
 Protects sows from
environmental
extremes & hazards
 Get beneficial attention
 What would you say
are some of the cons?

116. Gestation crates are used for the entirety of a
pig’s gestation period (16 weeks).

117. Cons Cons
 A bare gestation crate
prevents virtually all natural
behavior and interaction
with other pigs.
 Scientific research shows
that gestation crates cause
physical and psychological
suffering to sows, including
lameness due to weaker
bones and muscles,
abrasion injuries,
cardiovascular problems,
digestive problems, and
urinary tract problems.
 Gestation crates also
increase abnormal behavior
such as sham chewing and
bar-biting, indicating
severe frustration and
stress, and sows in crates
can exhibit behavior likened
to clinical depression.
 Feed is often restricted
during pregnancy, causing
chronic hunger and further
increasing the level of
frustration.

118.  BANNED in U.K. and Sweden
 European Union phase-out 2013
 Due to consumer pressure, a number of food
companies are phasing them out voluntarily.

119.  Banned in:
◦ Arizona
◦ California
◦ Colorado
◦ Florida
◦ Maine
◦ Massachusetts
◦ Michigan
◦ Ohio
◦ Oregon, and
◦ Rhode Island.

121.  Electrocuted or stunned –
cardiac arrest or
unconscious
 Hoisted up by their back
feet and bled out
◦ Should be bled out within
30 seconds of stunning to
avoid consciousness
 Lowered into vats of
scalding water to remove
hair before being
processed

122. Also covered by Humane Slaughter Act – supposed to be
unconscious before being hoisted onto the bleed rail and cut
open.
We will cover this when we review Horses, Racing and Slaughter.

125.  Fish farming is a form of aquaculture in which
fish are raised in enclosures to be sold as
food. It is the fastest growing area of animal
food production.
 Today, about half the fish consumed globally
are raised in these artificial environments.
Commonly farmed species include salmon,
tuna, cod, trout and halibut.
 These “aquafarms” can take the form of mesh
cages submerged in natural bodies of water,
or concrete enclosures on land.

126.  According to the United
Nations Food and Agriculture
Organization, roughly 32% of
world fish stocks are
overexploited, depleted or
recovering and need of being
urgently rebuilt. Fish farming
is hailed by some as a solution
to the overfishing problem.
However, these farms are far
from benign and can severely
damage ecosystems by
introducing diseases,
pollutants and invasive
species. The damage caused
by fish farms varies,
depending on the type of fish,
how it is raised and fed, the
size of the production, and
where the farm is located.

127. Etc. etc. etc.

128. No legally enforceable meaning because they are not clearly defined. Cage free
could still mean in a concrete pen without access to the outdoors; the animals
are just not in battery cages.
Cage Free

129. Growing demand in the U.S. for meat and other
animal products that are raised or slaughtered
more humanely.

130. Required by USDA to give their chickens some
access to the outside but there is NO
VERIFICATION PROCESS to prove claim

131.  Free range
 Pasture fed
 Free roaming
 Means the animals must have been allowed to eat
grass and live outdoors during at least part of their
lives.
 Rare inspections. USDA relies on claims on livestock
producers.

132. What’s the buzz word you hear everywhere?

133. But it’s kind of like an honor system: farmers must provide documentation to the
U.S.D.A. that they are following standards.
Farmers are not allowed to use this label
unless they meet requirements of the U.S.
National Organic Program.

134. ◦ U.S. Government’s National Organic Program
 No growth hormones or genetic engineering
 The animals are not fed animal byproducts.
 Some restrictions on manure management, slaughter
procedures, antibiotics & pesticides, and access to the
outdoors
 To use the label organic farmers must meet their
standards. Not optional. But the standards aren’t
particularly rigorous or enforced.

135. ◦ Some animal protection groups
developed and implemented their own programs to
define and certify welfare-friendly farming operations.
◦ To be called “Certified Humane” the producers must
meet specific criteria on manure management, slaughter
procedures, diet and lack of growth hormones,
antibiotics & pesticides, and access to the outdoors
through inspections and verifications.
Additional (Optional) Certifications (with inspections and verifications):
◦ American Humane Association’s American Humane Certified
◦ Humane Farm Animal Care program is funded by HSUS, ASPCA and
some others.

136. Antibiotics administered to farm animals are consumed by those who eat those animals. This
nontherapeutic use could lead to antibiotic resistant diseases. Also animal to human disease
transmission (known as zoonoses) can result including anthrax, brucellosis, leptospirosis,
tuberculosis, streptococcus, orf, avian influenza, ringworm and mad cow.
Human Health Issues

138. Farm animals are among the most abused
creatures on Earth.

139.  An estimated 77,047,000,959 land animals
were slaughtered worldwide for food in 2018.
 Many were raised on factory farms, which
maximize agribusiness profits at the expense
of the animals, the environment, social
justice, and public health.

140. Animal Agriculture Causes Immense
Suffering

141.  It hurts animals.
 Far from the idyllic pastures shown in ads,
factory farms typically consist of large
numbers of animals raised in extreme
confinement, who undergo painful
mutilations and are bred to grow fast and
large before being slaughtered at a young
age.

142. It hurts our planet.
Animal agriculture produces staggering quantities of waste and
greenhouse gases, polluting our land, air, and water and contributing
to climate change, land degradation, and the destruction of
ecosystems.

143. It hurts workers and communities.
Employees suffer long hours, are at high risk for mental and physical
trauma, and receive nominal pay. Oftentimes, facilities are in low-
income communities of color, who experience health ailments due to
the toxic practices of agribusiness.

144. The feeds, hormones, and antibiotics used on factory farms put humans at
risk for chronic disease, obesity, and drug-resistant bacteria, and pose the
threat of major zoonotic disease outbreaks.
It hurts our health.

145. “The question is not, "Can they reason?"
nor, "Can they talk?" but rather, "Can they
suffer?"”