The Treatmentof Farm Animals

At the beginning of this year, the Ward Egg Ranch in California killed approximately 30,000 of its hens that were no longer productive by throwing them into wood chippers.

When Cypress Foods began experiencing financial difficulties at the beginning of last year, the company did not feed more than one million chickens on its farms in Florida and Georgia for more than two weeks. About 20,000 of the birds died, and more than 180,000 of them ended up being euthanized.

Both of these cases are extreme because the cruelty involved was so severe and so many animals were affected. However, mistreatment of animals on farms tragically is not at all unusual. In fact, it is an everyday occurrence.

So-called "broiler chickens" are selectively bred and given growth hormones so the birds will have especially large thighs and breasts. These practices do create plumper chickens and thus maximize profits, but also make birds so heavy that their bones cannot support them.

Turkeys also are selectively bred and given growth hormones, and as a result often die before becoming 1 year old if they’re not slaughtered beforehand.

Severe overcrowding in pens often causes pigs, which are very intelligent and social creatures, to fight amongst themselves and in some cases kill each other.

To help ensure that pregnant sows will not be harmed, they usually are confined in gestation crates, which prevent them from not only turning around, but lying down comfortably.

Many cows never get out of the barns in which they’re kept.

Since few farms are adequately prepared for emergencies, many animals die during heat waves, natural disasters, power outages and so on.

In order to address these issues — and others — Humane Farm Animal Care is soon going to begin a "Certified Humane Raised and Handled" labeling program that will identify "meat, poultry, egg or dairy products from animals raised at facilities meeting precise, objective and humane standards for farm animal treatment."

In order to obtain permission to place the "Certified Humane" label on products, producers and processors will have to:

*provide proper nutrition and access to fresh water at all times
*not use feed containing hormones or antibiotics intended to promote growth
*take appropriate disease prevention measures
offer sufficient space and shelter
*provide the company of other members of animals’ species
*comply with the American Meat Institute Standards for slaughter

The label will significantly help to improve the lives of farm animals, especially if consumer demand for products bearing it is strong. However, more must be done.

Many existing farm regulations were enacted before the creation of large, so-called "factory" farms, and thus do not address practices unique to such establishments. The use of gestation crates, for example, is banned within the United States only by the government of Florida.

If farm animals are to receive humane treatment in the future, consumers, legislators and law enforcement officials all must act.