The following essay is about farming and it consists of four parts. At first I will illustrate the processes that have taken place in the transition from family farming to industrial livestock farming. The second part will be about the economic advantages modern farming implies for humans and the negative influences it has on animals. Thirdly, I will introduce some measures that have been taken over the last few decades to reconcile the human benefits of such farming methods with the suffering they cause to animals.
Finally, I will show that some resulting compromises between commerce and the animal welfare movement have marked a step forward, but that there is still a lot to be done in order to enhance the life of farm animals.
Farm animals are being taken off the fields and the old lichen covered barns are being replaced by gawky, industrial type buildings into which the animals are put. [...] The sense of unity with [the farmer's] stock which characterizes the traditional farmer is condemned as being uneconomic and sentimental. [...] Factory farm
animals are assessed purely for their ability to convert food into flesh, or `saleable products'. (p. 1)
This is how Ruth Harrison (1964) describes the shift from traditional family farming to modern farming methods like industrial livestock farming. Having a closer look on this shift, one can see that in early modernity from about 1500 to 1800 farm animals were part of a farm's community. They lived much closer to their owners than nowadays, it was even common to live with ones animals
under the same roof in so called "long-houses". Furthermore, most farm animals were given names and some farmers knew their cattle so detailed, that they were able to identify them by their hoof prints (Thomas, 1983, p. 94).
Besides, animals served not only as food, but also as instruments for labour on the acre, and most farmers bred animals for personal consumption or for local markets (Thomas, 1983). This rather idyllic method of farming began dying out in the middle of the 19th
century, when the industrial revolution started in western Europe. [...]
At a glance
- Uses Massey University's No. 4 Dairy Unit as a farming example
- Examines a 2002 European Commission paper on farmed-animal welfare legislation
- 12 sources in the bibliography
Table of Contents
1. Essay
Objectives and Themes
This essay examines the transition from family farming to industrial livestock farming and asks how its economic benefits for humans can be reconciled with the suffering it causes animals.
- Historical changes in farming and animal husbandry
- Mechanisation, productivity and farming costs
- Animal welfare in intensive livestock systems
- Transport and slaughter of farm animals
- European and German animal welfare measures
- Meat consumption and its implications for farming
Excerpt from the Book
1. Essay
Increasing farm sizes resulted in new forms of animal husbandry. Webster (1998) sums up this development appropriately, even though he refers to a time between 1920 and 1930:
The single key [exposing] all the differences between the modern, industrialised livestock farm and traditional, sustainable but subsistence farming is that the output of the factory farm is no longer constrained by what can be produced off the land it occupies. Most or all of the inputs to the system – power, machinery and other resources – are bought in so that output is constrained only by the amount that the producer can afford to invest in capital and other resources and the capacity of the system to process them. (p. 98)
Accordingly, the general result of the invention of agricultural science after World War II then was a raising production of crop and animal based foods. Besides knowledge in fertilizing and seeds, the so called Green Revolution, dated in the 1950s, led to an increasing productivity and mechanization on the farms. This progress is continuing constantly up to today. In practical terms it means computer-operated, effective feeding, automatic milking, use of vaccines, growth hormones and antibiotics, ventilation and air conditioning. (K. Stafford, farming, August 13, 2009)
This development leads us to the economic advantages of industrial livestock farming for farmers and the negative consequences it implies for farm animals.
The economic advantages of industrial livestock farming for farmers are resulting in a large extend from the innovations mentioned above. In this context, John Webster (2005) points out that factory farming became cheaper, faster and more efficient, when farmers decided to process feed through animals using machines than to let the animals do the work for themselves, for instance by harvesting their own food and spreading their own manure. Thus, after having managed the high set-up costs for buildings and equipment, running costs remained low and cheap energy as well as other resources from off-farm were able to increase output.
The process of mechanisation and automation on farms generally has led to a decreasing number of working man involved in the daily work routines. Moreover, through the use of vaccines and antibiotics animals are immunized against several diseases so that the death-rate of animals can be minimized. All these different measures finally save money and increase the profit of a farmer (Webster, 2005, p.97f.).
Chapter Summary
1. Essay: The essay traces the development of industrial livestock farming, considers its economic advantages alongside animal welfare concerns, and discusses measures intended to address those concerns. It concludes with the author's reflections on consumption and the future of farm animal welfare.
Keywords
industrial livestock farming, family farming, animal welfare, factory farming, agricultural mechanisation, farming economics, animal husbandry, confinement, transport, slaughter, welfare legislation, meat consumption
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the essay about?
It examines industrial livestock farming and the relationship between its economic benefits and its effects on farm animals.
What are its central themes?
The main themes are changes in farming practices, agricultural productivity, animal welfare, regulatory measures and meat consumption.
What is the essay's primary question?
It considers how the benefits of industrial livestock farming for humans can be reconciled with the suffering it causes animals.
What approach does the author use?
The author presents an argumentative essay drawing on published books, institutional documents and other cited sources, together with an example from a farm tour.
What does the main discussion cover?
It follows the transition from family farms to industrial systems, considers economic and welfare consequences, and describes measures intended to improve animal welfare.
Which keywords characterise the work?
Key terms include industrial livestock farming, animal welfare, mechanisation, animal husbandry, welfare legislation and meat consumption.
Which farming example does the author discuss?
The essay refers to Massey University's No. 4 Dairy Unit when discussing labour and technology in dairy farming.
Which animal welfare measures are considered?
The author discusses a European Commission paper, German regulations for farmed animals and a German legislative compromise concerning the keeping of hens.
- Quote paper
- Jens Goldschmidt (Author), 2009, Farming - Animal and Human Societies, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/177054
