Debunking the "Evils" of "Factory" Farming

Last week was one of my heavier weeks as far as herd checks go. I had herd checks on 10 different farms, a few DAs to do, a few other sick cows to look at and a couple of sick calves. It was a pretty routine week for me, but as I was considering what to write about this week, I realized that most of the farms I was on this week, would be considered “Factory Farms” in the general public’s eyes.  This is the most frequently used and most flawed description of agriculture I have yet to come across in over 30 years of being in agriculture.

Just to see what is out there, I googled “What is a factory farm?” The first hit was a very popular Animal Rights website.  This is a direct quote:

“A factory farm is a large, industrial operation that raises large numbers of animals for food. Over 99% of farm animals in the U.S. are raised in factory farms, which focus on profit and efficiency at the expense of the animals’ welfare. “

So my question is as it relates to the dairy industry: what is considered large???? 100 cows? 1000? 5000? 10,000? Every single client of mine, whether they milk 50 cows or 2000 cows, is owned, operated and managed by one family. So when people use the term “Factory Farm,” realize you are most likely talking about a “Family Farm.”

Website: “Factory farms pack animals into spaces so tight that most can barely move. Many have no access to the outdoors, spending their lives on open warehouse floors, or housed in cages or pens. Without the room to engage in natural behaviors, confined animals experience severe physical and mental distress.”




Stalls with deep sand for ample cushioning

I’m not sure how many freestall barns members of this animal rights organization have been in, but I’m in them every day of the week, pretty much all day long.  Cows that live in barns do spend time on concrete. Many farms put rubber mats down in areas where cows spend the most time, so that they do have cushioning, while standing. The stalls that are in the barn are specifically designed by agriculture engineers to best fit the cows that are in them. They are lined with mattresses (some even have water beds) or deep sand. Cows have ample space in the stalls to stretch out and sleep comfortably. If a cow gets hungry, she can get up and walk over to the feed bunk where a completely balanced meal is sitting there ready to eat, whenever she wants it.   The alleys in these barns provide ample room for cows to meander about and perform natural socialization behaviors. 



A mountain of fresh, nutritionally balanced food deliverd daily.







Curtains that rise and lower based on outside temps



Many freestall barns have curtains on the outside of the barn that are raised up and lowered, automatically, based on the temperature outside. Cows are protected from the snow, rain, wind and scorching sun with these curtains. Many farms even have fans and sprinklers in the barns to try to keep the cows as cool as possible during the summer.  Cows that are too hot or too cold are stressed. When cows are stressed, they don’t make milk. It is counter-productive for a farmer, to not have their cows as comfortable as possible, ALL THE TIME!



Fans to keep cows cool during hot summer days

















According to this animal rights organization, there are several “Standard Factory Farming Practices.”  The statements in red are direct quotes from their website. The statements in black are the truths about agriculture from someone who lives, works and breathes it every day.

Unclean air: Waste piles up in the animal sheds, creating ammonia and dust. The ammonia irritates and can even burn animals’ eyes, skin and throats.
TRUTH: Large farms use alley scrapers, which act as a squeegee cleaning the manure. These scrapers run continuously so the cows are rarely walking in their own waste. Farms that do not have alley scrapers use a tractor to clean the barn every time the cows are out of their pen and at the milking parlor. This is 2-3 times a day! Also, when the cows are out of their pen, someone is cleaning, scraping and freshening up the stalls in the pen so that when the cows come back from the parlor, they have a clean place to lie down.  They get completely new bedding at least once a week and sometimes up to 3 times a week. Do you wash your sheets 3 times a week???

Unnatural lighting: Factory farms simulate unnatural day lengths to promote fast growth and desired behaviors.
TRUTH: There are several studies that have shown that when milking cows have longer lighting periods (16 hours of light vs. 13), they will spend more time eating and will produce about 8% more milk than with less lighting.  It also provides a safer environment for the people handling the cows, and the cows themselves.  If you think about it, you yourself spend 16-18 hours a day with “unnatural light” and are sleeping in darkness for 6-8 hours. How is this different???

Unnatural growth: Fast and disproportionate growth and production due to selective breeding causes ailments including chronic pain, mobility problems and heart problems.

TRUTH: Dairy cows reach maturity much faster than humans. So yeah, they do grow fast. So do dogs and cats. Dairy cows and heifers have their very own nutritionist that plans and evaluates their meals on a weekly to monthly basis ensuring that animals have a completely balanced meal, with every bite.  Let’s think about this logically… if cows are in chronic pain, are sick, uncomfortable or stressed are they going to be able to perform at their best??? No. Again, it’s counter-productive!

Non-therapeutic medicating: So that they can survive the filthy conditions and grow even faster, some industries feed their animals antibiotics and/or hormones.

TRUTH: Cows are not fed hormones and antibiotics to grow faster. Monensin is the common culprit in this statement. This is a feed additive that boosts the metabolism of the animal to better utilize the food they are eating. A property of this feed additive is that it does have the ability to help slow the growth of coccidia (a parasite found in the environment) in animals. Because of this added bonus, it is often fed to younger animals as part of their complete diet. Garlic is a food that humans often eat that has additional benefits, such as “antibiotic” properties to it. Does that mean if you are eating garlic you are “non-therapeutically medicating” yourself????

Unnatural reproduction: Many female farm animals spend virtually their entire lives pregnant, putting them under chronic strain.

TRUTH:  I’ve discussed this before in a previous post. Cows are mammals. In order to produce milk, they have to have a baby.  If they don’t have a baby, they stop making milk, get fat, have other metabolic issues and are no longer productive animals.  So yes, mature cows do have a baby every year.  Heifers don’t get pregnant until they are of a mature size and their uterus is sexually mature and ready to have a baby. It’s nature. Even if animals weren’t in confinement, they would still have a baby every year.

Absent veterinary care: Most factory farms deny animals individualized veterinary care, including humane euthanasia.

TRUTH: Now this statement is just ridiculous. I am on these farms every week, for at LEAST an hour a day, if not up to 4-5 hours a day. As a veterinarian, I am trained to be observant. My patients can’t talk to me and tell me what’s wrong. As I walk through the barn every week, I have to pick up on subtle clues to see that something is wrong.  Large farms also have a staff that specializes in cattle care. These employees spend all day, every day working with these cows, examining them and treating them as needed. If their sickness requires veterinary attention, I am called and am on the farm within hours to attend to the sick animal. Some farms that are larger than the farms that I go to, even have a veterinarian on staff, that is on site every day, taking care of issues and sick animals on the farm.  

As far as the euthanasia goes, there are several methods of approved humane euthanasia techniques as described by the American Veterinary Medical Association. Attached is the link to these methods, feel free to read them and realize that these methods are very commonly used on large farms.  Euthanasia Guidelines

Surgical mutilations: Many farm animals undergo painful mutilations to their tails, testicles, horns, toes or beaks, without painkillers, to make their behavior more manageable.
TRUTH: I’ve also written about this in previous posts. For the most part, cows do get pain medication when certain procedures are being performed. Other procedures listed, really aren’t painful procedures, and feel more like you are cutting your fingernails, not performing surgery. This is an area that the agriculture industry continues to try to improve on. Most of which, is training employees of the farm, the techniques to use, so that pain mitigation is achieved.  I can assure you that none of these procedures are done with malicious intent. There is still plenty of room for improvement, but progress is being made every day to ensure that cows really are pain free.

Shortened lives: Factory farmed animals are generally slaughtered at “market weight” well before the end of their natural life spans. In fact, most are still babies.

TRUTH: This applies more to the pig and chicken industry of which I am not practiced in. I encourage you to find resources from the American Association of Swine Veterinarians, and the American College of Poultry Veterinarians.  There is relevance to the beef industry where steers are fed to market weight and then slaughtered for beef.  This is part of the food chain. This is the purpose that farm animals serve and have served for thousands of years.

Just like there are bad lawyers and bad doctors, there are some bad farmers. I won't deny that. There are advantages and disadvantages to the 50 cow farm and the 5000 cow farm. I visit many farms that I am proud to call my clients. They take wonderful care of their animals and are rewarded with healthy cows that make a lot of milk. The more people try to actually understand how a cow lives, what their needs are, and how hard farmers work to provide them these needs, the more ridiculous these ulterior-motive media outlets sound. Still have questions? Find a local farmer or large animal veterinarian and ask!!!