Is The Farming Industry Getting Carried Away By Their Profits? Animals Getting Harmed?

by Myla Dalia, EarthScope Intern (Tam High)

April 7, 2017

Myself, I have never eaten at a fast food restaurant, nor eaten any fast food. The meat and eggs I consume have always been pastured, and I will not eat meat or eggs without knowing exactly where they came from. I know a lot of the horrors that take place at factory farms, and wholly disagree with how they treat the animals.

I have ten chickens that I keep in my backyard, who are happy, content, and absolutely adorable. I've had them for almost five years. I know some people use their chickens as meat after they cease to lay, but mine I treat as my children. I gave up eating any bird at all, although I never really liked bird meat, because of them. Two of my chickens, Cocoa and Chickie, have died, from the original twelve. I could never imagine anything happening to my chickens as horrible as factory farms.

For those of you who do not know, the conditions for chickens in factory farms are brutal. At a young age, their beaks are burned off with a hot iron while they are awake and not drugged by any painkillers. The egg laying birds are then stuffed into tiny metal cages hanging off of a sort of conveyor belt in a dark, loud warehouse with millions of other chickens. These cages are called battery cages. This is a highly stressful situation for these birds, and many die of shock or fear, or even injuries. Often, they are bloody and bruised, and are given constant shots with steroids to make their eggs bigger. Meat is bathed and soaked in chlorine to clean it. This does not make the eggs better. If you have ever bought these eggs, you may have noticed how watery the white is, how thin the shell is, and how pale yellow the yolk is. From heathy chickens, the eggs should have a thick, calcium enriched shell, with a sturdy white that stays together with the yolk, and a dark yellow, even orange yolk. They are much, much healthier, containing more protein, and are much tastier. Raise chickens yourself, and treat them well, and you can even have your own good eggs for free.

Solution: Buy Pastured Meat and Eggs

There is another option for you if you still would like meat and eggs from the store. You can buy pastured meat and eggs, which means the animals were treated well, not given steroids and shots to make them or their eggs bigger, and they were not killed slowly and painfully like in factory farms. They have a lot of room to run and are happy. Sure, they may be rarer than factory farms, and produce less and cost more, but the eggs and meat is much, much better for you. Usually, they will only cost around a dollar or less more than the other eggs and meat, but it is a dollar extra you should spend, instead of supporting fast food and factory farming and animal abuse to the extreme. Even Cage Free and Free Range eggs are no better than factory farm eggs. 1000's of chickens could be stuffed in a tiny barn, living in horrible conditions, but the only difference is they are not in small wire cages. Spend an extra fifty cents and buy pastured eggs and meat.