Technology and Animal Farming

Question: explain how technology has raised serious concerns about how animals raised for food are treated.

Technology is the use of systematic knowledge to the real-world purposes of mortal life to the change and management of the human setting.

Technology has vital effects on any given agribusiness operations. Additionally, scientific and knowledge advances have greatly impacted the agriculture industry. The primary motive of technology in factory farming is to produce most products and to gain as much profit as possible (Pizzuti & Mirabelli, 2016).

Thesis- Breeders and farmers have since been taking technology seriously to come up with a variety of breeds that grow fast so that they can deliver the products that come from the animals as fast as they can. Various types and breeds of animals are being made through the advanced husbandry technology to ensure that farmers get the maximum profit from the animals they buy either to be used for meat purposes or for milk production.

Animal conditions

Most of the animals raised for food production are kept in worse conditions that may act as the breeding grounds for multiple diseases. Moreover, the intensive animal farming works on increasing production output through the application of the modern technology to raise animals within a short period of time in large quantities at a faster rate than traditional farming as well as to minimize costs (Pizzuti & Mirabelli, 2016). The overcrowded animals such as chickens in factory farms have no access to the outdoors. Thus, the animals end up being enclosed in an area with no sufficient air or natural light and because of that, the animals never feel the warmth of the sun on their backs or even breathe fresh air until the day they are being transported to the slaughterhouses. Animals such as the cattle in the intensive animal farming are not allowed to graze on pasture on their own, hence the more pressure is put on the animals to grow faster and produce more meat and milk. This action makes the animals have frequent health problems.

On today’s factory farming, animals are being overcrowded in thousands into filthy, windowless sheds satiated into wire pens, metal crates as well as other torturous expedients. If a cow gives birth to a calf, the cow never raises its calf and the animals are not allowed to do anything that is natural and vital to them. The calves are fed on supplements that force them to grow bigger every day than they are supposed to grow (Pizzuti & Mirabelli, 2016). Moreover, most of the animals die from diseases and some get infections due to the deplorable conditions they are brought in (Baker, 2013). Besides, Hens raised for eggs are kept in small cages where they lay their eggs in few cages which are crowded where else chickens and pigs are kept in jam-packed sheds with no space to rotate or lie down contentedly. Cows are kept on crowded and dirty feedlots that expose them to diseases and later they end up dying. These animals are fed with antibiotics to keep them alive in unhygienic settings and to facilitate their quick abnormal growth. The use of antibiotic has both effects on the animals and the human being since they develop antibiotic-resistant bacteria which are harmful.

Nevertheless, the uses of genetically modified feeds and supplements to animals make them grow to an extent that they can barely support themselves due to the heavyweight that they have, of which they are not supposed to have naturally. The outsized bodies make the animals suffer from starvation as well as dehydration since they can’t walk to reach to the food and water troughs. Most of these animals require some assistant to stand since they cannot stand on their own (Baker, 2013). Moreover, animals raised for meat when they have grown larger enough for food, they are jam-packed into large trucks without minding if the animals are hurt or not. When the survived animals get to the slaughterhouse, they are slit while they are still conscious. Worse of, chickens which are reared for meat are tortured by being put into hot water of DE feathering while they are still alive while some such as cows they may get skinned even when they are not completely dead. Subsequently, the crowded animals are forced to sleep on their wastes, which makes them smell and they end up dying due to the cold wet rooms which they live in, also, there is frequent insufficient renal growth. Through technology breeding, most of the animals that are created end up being born with defects and later on suffering for the rest of their lives.

Conclusion

Technology provides many benefits, but also leads to multiple problems. Animals reared for food should be treated in a good way that makes them grow at their natural pace without being fed with chemicals that make them bigger than they should be, making them vulnerable to diseases (Pizzuti & Mirabelli, 2016). Moreover, rearing of the animals in worse conditions makes them develop stress and even heart attacks and they may later on die or suffer from large offspring syndrome. In a nutshell, treating animals well for food promote food product quality.

References

Baker, S. S. (2013). “The Twisted Animals Have No Land beneath Them”. Artist Animal, 182-240. doi:10.5749/minnesota/9780816680665.003.0008

Pizzuti, T., & Mirabelli, G. (2016). Future Technology in Tracing Animals on the Food Chain. Advances in Food Traceability Techniques and Technologies, 165-190. doi:10.1016/b978-0-08-100310-7.00009-0