Throughout the realm of animal production, there are two major practices: free-range and confinement. Free-range production, essentially, is when animals can roam freely. Confinement is when animals are placed either in cages or in very close spaces. Both practices have negative and positive aspects. Free-range is seen as more humane, but there are some downfalls such as the fact that animals are more susceptible to predators. Confinement is seen as more inhumane; however, production increases and animals are less susceptible to predators. According to David Fraser, on occasion, birds raised in confinement are placed on constricted diets. These constricted diets can cause aggression and behavior problems in some cases. With these practices, although, solutions to both are available. The solutions for confinement can include rebuilding structures to include sunlight and install larger cages. On the other side, the solutions for free-range can include building shelters for the …show more content…
animals to protect from weather or predators. Due to the false labeling, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) needs to create stricter regulations for the producers. The controversy surrounding animal production is typically around free-range and confinement practices. Both practices have negative aspects, positive aspects, and overall solutions to each problem. There are benefits by raising animals in a free-range environment.
By being raised in free-range environments, animals have the opportunity to roam freely. According to animal advocates, confinement is typically seen as inhumane, while free-range is seen a much more ethical way of raising animals. The animals themselves are allowed more fresh air and exercise rather than being inside cages for the entirety of their lives. Health risks, such as the spread of E. Coli and other diseases, are widely prevented by using the free-range farming method rather than confined farming. There have been incidents of runoffs infecting streams and spreading E. Coli from the manure of animals. By using free-range farming, there is not as high of a risk for diseases spreading because the animals are not as highly concentrated in one area as with the factory-farmed animals. In free-range farming, there is not as much runoff in one area and the conditions do not get to be as bad as they are with confined
farming. Free-range animals also have a less restrictive diet than those that are raised in confinement. For example, as David Fraser explained, poultry, to be specific, are occasionally placed on restricted diets. Animals are given specific diets to influence the products they will eventually be made into. According to the National Institute of Health, animals raised in confinement were fed materials including dried animal waste, animal fat, urea, bone charcoal, and plastics. Free-range animals contain more omega 3-fatty acids, due to the higher amount of green grass and leaves eaten. When consuming factory-fed meats, humans are consuming a higher dosage of antibiotics because the animals themselves were treated with them. According to PaleoLeap, a pro-free-range website, eighty percent of antibiotics in the United States are used on animals to help them mature faster and get bigger while also helping them to endure the conditions of factory farms. In the egg industry, there is a proven difference between the eggs from confined and free-range chickens. According to PaleoLeap, “free-range eggs have between 26% and 170% more Omega-3s.” In a study done by the Organic Agriculture Centre of Canada, chickens fed grass had 23% more Vitamin E than chickens fed clover. Overall, free-range animals have a different composition of Omega-3s and Vitamin E than their confinement counterparts. In typical confinement practices, poultry are confined in battery cages, which are barely big enough for them to turn around. Everything is essentially automated and the birds are also forced into molting. Swine, on the other hand, are placed in farrowing and gestation crates, and the males are castrated without anesthesia. Dairy cattle are dehorned and are forced to live in a dry lot system. Animal confinement within production is negative due to the fact of stress, ventilation problems, and unnatural practices. Confining animals is not how the animals would be raised naturally. Within big production practices, inadequate ventilation is common. Sometimes, the ventilation system will incur a problem and within hours the animals can begin to die due to the excessive amounts of carbon dioxide and methane in the air. Due to this system, the animals inhale a dangerous amount of respirable dust, gasses, and often suffer from heat stress. The floors are typically concrete, which causes excessive stress to hooves and joints. According to David Fraser, in this crowded environment, aggressive tendencies and other behavioral abnormalities increase. As the animals are in such close quarters, as a whole, they are more prone to spreading diseases such as E. coli around the entire lot. When calves or piglets are born, they are removed practically right after birth and that can damage their emotional health. On the side of poultry, the male chicks are a byproduct of the egg industry and are considered a waste. In all, animal confinement practices are inhumane and cause problems among the animals’ health. To produce information on whether or not confinement affects animals’ products, studies have been conducted such as one by the Poultry Institute and the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science. It has come back to say that confinement does affect the animals; however, it is not in a harmful or undesirable way. The trial showed that animal stress does not affect the way they produce food and other products in all the ways that some people believe it does. In this study, confined and free-range chickens were fed the same diet and weighed at the same times, but some were housed in cages and some were housed in cages with a grass paddock. Different methods were used for each of the different tests after the chickens were fed, raised, and killed. Different characteristics, including the muscle, the bone strength, weight and water holding capacity (WHC) of confined chickens compared to those that were raised free range were tested. As the results of the study came to show, there are many downsides to raising animals in a free-range environment. The chickens that were raised in the free-range environment had lower weight and weight gain than those raised in confinement. Additionally, in a free-range environment, factors such as temperature cannot be controlled, or controlled near as easily as in confinement. In extreme heat, fat may increase, and in extreme cold, muscle may have trouble developing. Free-range animals also had access to insects and items that could have been ingested, as well as other factors such as extreme heat and cold, and dangerous things that could have caused them harm since it was not controlled. Bones of free-range chickens were also weaker because of the increased need for calcium. There was no difference found between the nutritional value and meat quality of the chickens in the two different environments; however, free-range chickens, due to temperature variations, had lower WHC which could lead to loss of nutritional value and meat that is drier and tougher. There was no difference between meat tenderness, but a slightly lower muscle pH, what determines tenderness, color, and the ability of muscle to convert to meat after death, in free-range chickens than those raised in confinement. While there were some conditions that favored free-range such as muscle growth and the fact that the nutritional value was no different, there were more downsides to show that the good is not worth the process as a whole. For the issue of confinement, there are solutions to all of the problems. Many animal production practices have surfaced for commercial production. Before World War II, most animals were kept and raised on a farm, usually in a pasture or some other outdoor facility, with room to move around freely. This was most common up until 1950, when soldiers returned home with new a technology that originated in Europe. This new technology was called confinement, or intensive animal production. This new method of confinement places the animals in close quarters. This has also lead to clipping the beaks and toes of chickens and docking the tails of pigs and cows. A proposed solution to factory farming is to make larger pens and buildings. That way, multiple animals still fit in the pens; however, having a larger pen gives the animals more space. Giving the animals more room simulates a more natural habitat and lessens the aggressive tendencies over food and water. Another solution is to add retractable roofs on existing buildings to allow sunlight to penetrate the building. It would reduce stress on the animals and for chickens, that decrease in stress would help produce higher quality eggs. In 2015, California signed a law that states that hens should be allowed to freely lie down, stand up, and extend their wings; which banned small cages that cram multiple animals in close quarters. With all of the problems of animal confinement, solutions are readily available for farmers and production companies. The practice of free-range also has multiple problems, which all have solutions.The true definition of free-range is allowing animals to roam freely instead of being contained in any manner. These products are usually more expensive and are sometimes falsely advertised. Many companies buy animals who were raised in confinement and put them in pastures or vice versa; therefore, raising the price of the product. Another problem with free-range chickens is the fact that they are more susceptible to predators, extreme temperatures, and soil born diseases. A solution to this problem is adding shelters to pastures for the animals to occupy during the night or cold weather, so they have a better chance of being healthy in undesirable conditions. A solution to the previous problem of buying the animals from confinement and false advertising would be to pass a law stating that in order to be classified as free range, the animal must be born and raised free range for the entirety of its life. Overall, for every problem with a type of practice there are solutions available for producers. The controversy surrounding animal production is typically around free-range and confinement practices; both parts, however, have negative aspects, positive aspects, and solutions to the problems. Free-range is a more humane way of raising animals, it is more close to how animals would grow naturally. Confinement is more inhumane and includes tight spaces, diseases, and stress. However, there are good and bad aspects of both that vary depending on the rancher that is speaking about it. The solutions include rebuilding structures for confinement and creating bigger cages. One of the biggest issues with free-range is the lack of structures. Overall, confinement farming is a better option for producers wishing to produce the most product, which in fact, produces the largest profit. Animals raised in either way have specialized problems; therefore the amount of product and profit is extremely important for the producers. As the majority of meat and eggs consumed daily are from factory farms, this is the best option historically and currently.
Environmental scientists and social activists are starting to argue that Caged Animal Feeding Operations ( CAFO’s) are detrimental to the environment in a variety of ways. CAFO’s are the result of 10,000 years of human progress stemming from the transition of a hunter/gatherer society to an agrarian society. The transition from a hunter/gatherer society to an agrarian society contributed to the creation of major cities, resulting in higher populations i.e. Mesopotamia. As time progressed and countries started becoming more populated, specifically the United States, a higher demand for food needed to be met due to the growing populous. It got to the point where there were so many people that small family run farms could not meet the demand of the growing population.
Animal hoarding is a very common issue, and is not being reported the way that it should be. These situations need to stop being overlooked and dealt with correctly, not only to save the animals’ lives, but to keep the owner and their family in wellbeing. Animals are very important and should be taken care of very well. When they are put into a hoarding situation they cannot go out and get the help that they need. We need to be their voice and speak up for them. It is necessary to learn the signs and behaviors of animal hoarding.
Factory farming is where animals are packed as closely together as attainable, most never see or feel the sunlight, able to get fresh air or even able to turn around. These terrible conditions have serious effects on the animals physically and mentally. Illness spreads and fights break out between animals. This worldwide epidemic known as factory farming began when greedy people began to modify farms to maximise profit for themselves, but because of this, it not only has a terrible impact on animals but
Vivisections, medical research that harms the research subject without providing any benefits to them, is supported by philosophy professor R.G Frey on the basis that the using and killing of animals is morally permissible because humans' quality of life exceeds animals' quality of life. Frey does not disregard the fact that vivisections harm animals, he sees no difference in the pain felt by humans and animals; nonetheless, Frey does not believe that all members of the moral community have lives of equal value. He believes that sacrificing the lives of those with less value is better than sacrificing the lives of those with higher values. Therefore, Frey defends the act of vivisections on the basis that humans' lives are of greater moral value
According to the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, animal husbandry is defined as the physiological, biological, psychological and social needs of animals.1 Every zoo that is AZA accredited needs to fulfill these needs correctly for the species and on a regular basis. In the UK, the ‘five freedoms’ are used to determine proper animal husbandry: freedom from injury and disease; freedom from hunger, thirst, and malnutrition; freedom from thermal or physical distress; freedom to express ‘normal’ behaviors; and freedom from fear.4 Other freedoms have been proposed – freedom from boredom and freedom of animal to exert control over it’s quality of life, to name a few – but the five have remained as structure to determine proper animal husbandry.4 Many different employees are needed to fulfill these needs, from animal keepers to curators to veterinarians. Each aspect of animal husbandry, as described by the AZA, will be briefly addressed.
Sometimes, Free Range Farming is not that good because the foods are expensive. And also the animals can get
According to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, 7.6 million companion pets enter animal shelters across the United States each year, nearly evenly disrupted between dogs and cats . These animals are abandoned for reasons including families no longer being able to care for them (sickness/death of an owner), to families not wanting them (the novelty wearing of the animal wearing off), to the animals being born into puppy mills to finally animals that are loved being lost from their owners. These animals do not understand what is happening to them and rely on the kindness of humans to provide for them in shelters until their forever home can be found.
Power is authority and strength, which is any form of motive force or energy, ability to act, or control. When too much power is given, a dictatorship government can form, in which all decisions are made by one authority. In the book Animal Farm, by George Orwell the author portrays how “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely” (Lord Acton).
There are many debates around the world about the topic of animal abuse. Animal abuse in the food industry has become a major problem due to the cruel treatment of animals. Most of the world's population might think that animal cruelty is only found in homes and on the street, but they forget about the other forms of animal abuse that affect the food industry. Large contributors to animal abuse are due to fishing methods, animal testing, and slaughterhouses. "Animals have always been a major part of our society in history and they have played huge roles in agriculture" (ASPCA). Factory farming is a system of confining chickens, pigs, and cattle under strictly controlled conditions. Slaughterhouses are places where animals are killed
Mason GJ. Species differences in response to captivity: stress, welfare and the comparative method. Trends in Ecology and Evolution. 2010; 713-720.
The advantages of free range farming are numerous ;one of which is that the products from the animals will be more desirable if the consumers know that the animals have had a better quality of life compared to factory farming where the animals are confined to cramped wire cages and packed into filthy windowless sheds by the thousands,feed hormones such as zeranol,trenbolone acetate and will have no quality of life at all.Another advantage is that Free range farming is the closest
Chapter One: Animal Negligence Animal Abandonment Animal abandonment. The word makes me sick. The whole IDEA of animal abandonment sickens me. Basically, you decide, Oh, I don’t want this dumb pet anymore.
Places like Zoos will argue that they are keeping these animals in cages to protect their species from extinction. A study done shows that when a pack of wolves was reintroduced to Yellowstone after being absent for nearly 70 years, that it had a tremendous effect on the ecosystem. The wolves helped to control the deer in the area so the vegetation could flourish. Other animals began to migrate to the park, so there was more animals helping the ecosystem grow. So, keeping animals in cages actually has an impact on the environment they are meant to be in.
Animal Cruelty has many forms, many reasons and most importantly many victims. It is a growing problem in today’s society. Many people may wonder why people abuse animals. The thought is simple, however the answer is a little more complex, there are three main types of animal cruelty. The three reasons are as follows: unintentional, intentional, and cruel intentions. I will discuss each one in more detail.
Unavoidable Confinement “The caged eagle becomes a metaphor for all forms of isolation, the ultimate in imprisonment. A zoo is prison,”states South American Nobel Prize winner in Literature, Nadine Gardimer. The topic of zoos is certainly a debatable one, resulting in people in absolute opposition to or in favour of the facility’s usage. However some negative aspects of zoos are undoubtedly not debatable. Zoos should be prohibited as they do not usually provide appropriate space for the animals, captive animals may suffer from abnormal behaviour, and zoos often eliminate surplus animals in inhumane ways.