Questions and answers about factory farming
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What is factory farming?
I take factory farming to mean the close confinement of farmed animals in cages, crates or overcrowded sheds or barren outdoor feedlots. This includes, for example, chickens kept in battery cages to produce eggs, chickens confined in broiler sheds for their meat, and pigs kept in barren pens for their meat. Animals in factory farms are treated more like production machines than individual sentient beings with welfare needs. These animals are specially bred for purpose. They are fast growing or high producing breeds. They are vulnerable to painful production-related health problems. Factory farms are energy-intensive and use concentrated feed (such as soya and cereals), high mechanisation and minimal labour.
Which countries use factory farming?
Various kinds of factory farming are banned in a few countries (e.g. Norway and Switzerland) and some kinds, e.g. barren battery cages, in Germany and Austria. There are measures being taken to phase out some factor...
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