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Bryan Flores
Professor Batty
ENGL 113B
February 24, 2016
Factory Farming Great for Society although it must be renovated
What is farming? When people think about farms or farming, usually they tend to picture
a huge landscape that has a barn in the middle, a couple dozen cattle walking freely in a few
acres of rangeland, pigs fenced in pins and acres of different varieties of crops. A farm is a
wonderful place in the eyes of the public, but what usually comes to mind when they hear the
words factory farm? A factory farm, also called CAFOS (Concentrated Animal Feeding
Operations), is a whole different story. Factory farming is where mass production of slaughtering
animals such as pigs, chickens and cattle take place. Although, this type of farming seems to be
evil it has its pros and cons. In fact, factory farming has quite a few benefits. Factory farming
keeps a variety of meats in markets for an affordable price for society. Without factory farming,
meat would be noticeably more expensive. CAFOs are also really good at meeting the demand of
meat that our society asks for. Although there are pros to factory farming, the cons outweigh the
pros. In factory farming, the animal conditions in these facilities are very inhumane. Animals are
raised poorly and at extreme rates with antibiotics which lead to poor nutrition. Factory farming
can be beneficial towards society; however, it should be renovated so that it can be better for
both humans and the animals.
Factory farming is very beneficial for economic reasons pertaining to society because it
allows meat to become outstandingly affordable. Animals are being raised in mass numbers and
also slaughtered at the same time with little money invested. For instance, in an article called

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Factory Farms are They Good For Consumers Robert Farrell explains how Due to technology
and economies of scale, factory farms can produce food at less cost than smaller farms, which
enables customers to save money on food purchases(Farrell 1). The author explains how small
farms require more money to invest in the animals whereas factory farming takes a small portion
of money to do so.
Factory farms are great at meeting the demand of meat for society as well as providing
sufficient amounts of dairy products and eggs. With the average adult in the US eating about .36
pounds of meat a day ( Molla 1), 1,996 pounds(Aubrey 1) of diary a year, and 6.91 billion
(www.aeb.org 1) egg shells produced a year. The United States itself slaughtered about 3

billion animals (ww.humanesociety.org 1) in the year 2015. In the United States there are
approximately 318 million people living there. Thats approximately 9 farm animals for each
human in the U.S for a year. How do these farms keep up with producing massive amounts of
meat, diary, and eggs?
Factory farms produce large amount of meat, dairy and eggs by using certain methods to
influence the growth production as well as the dairy production. Animals are raised and
slaughtered so quickly by using antibiotics and hormones to increase growth and weight. Cattle
themselves are given hormones to increase milk production and are impregnated every so often
to keep the milk production successful to meet demands. In an article called Factory Farming
and Human Health they explain how Cows in the dairy industry can be given growth
hormones in order to increase their milk production. Once their productivity declines, these cows
are slaughtered for beef.( www .farmsanctuary.org 1). On the other hand chickens are not
injected with hormones or antibiotics but is fed a chemical despite their ability to reproduce
really quickly. On a website called Farm Sanctuary people are informed about what the current

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conditions these animals are forced to go through such as chickens. Arsenic is added to the feed
of approximately 70% of the broilers raised each year because it is believed to promote growth.(
www.farmsanctuary.org 1) These inhumane farmers feed the chickens arsenic which makes them

grow rapidly. This affects the chickens because they grow faster than their bones can handle
which can lead to problems such as not being able to walk properly. Not only are they being
stuffed with antibiotics and hormones there environment these animals are raised in is horrific.
In these factory farms, animals are mistreated and live in a disgusting environment.
Animals are limited to a lot of things such as sun light and enough room to move comfortably
around. Hypothetically speaking that would be as horrible as being in a space that is designed to
fit four people comfortably, but instead ten people are forced into that limited space. This is
exactly what these animals must face constantly. In an article called Factory Farming Misery for
Farming they mention how harsh the living conditions are for these animals. Theyre often
given so little space that they cant even turn around or lie down comfortably. Egg-laying hens
are kept in small cages, chickens and pigs are kept in jam-packed sheds, and cows are kept on
crowded, filthy feedlots (Factory Farming Misery for Farming 1) Not only do they have a
small space to be kept in but cattle, pigs and chickens live within their own feces. Farm animals
live very stressful lives and usually show signs of fear or mistrust until they are finally
slaughtered. Meat prices can be very affordable but farm animals have to go through all of this
mistreatment to make it affordable.
There are many solutions to renovating how we eat meat or stopping factory farming.
Although factory farming can produce massive amounts of products for society and keeping
them at a cheap prize the animals suffer and its unhealthy for humans. If you are a true meat
eater switch to organic meat, its healthier and the animals dont go through all that suffering of

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being mistreated and living in tight spaces. Although factory farming is very cheap it should be
renovated to treat the animals better, instead of keeping them concentrated in small spaces they
can let the animals catch some fresh air once in a while. They should also stop their practices of
using arsenic chemicals in their chickens. If a factory farm were to renovate all its practices it
wouldnt be considered a factory farm no more, instead it would be just like an organic farm. The
biggest solution to ending animal cruelty in farms and people becoming sick because of these
products is to not consume meat or dairy products that come from factory farming, what else is
better than vegetables for nutrition? Choose veggies, its the best for you and the animals..

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Works Cited
Aubrey, Allison. "The Average American Ate (Literally) A Ton This Year." NPR. NPR. Web.
22 Feb. 2016.
Factory Farming and Human Health." Farm Sanctuary. Web. 22 Feb. 2016.
Farrell, Robert R., and Stacey L. Palm. "Factory Farms Are They Good for Consumers?
Factory Farms Are They Good for Consumers? Web. 17 Feb. 2016.
"Industry Overview - American Egg Board." Industry Overview - American Egg Board. Web. 23
Feb. 2016.
"Factory Farming: Misery for Animals." PETA. Web. 19 Feb. 2016.
Molla, Ranni. "How Much Meat Do Americans Eat? Then and Now." The Numbers RSS. Web.
21 Feb. 2016.