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Katie EckertCornerstone 07Dr. GAnnotated Bib Speech OutlineFactory Farming Speech OutlineAttention Getter: This video may bother some of you, but this is what happens behind the doors of factory farms. Factory Farming in 60 Seconds Flat (YouTube video: 10-30 seconds)Build Rapport: Think of what you eat on a daily basis. It probably includes milk, eggs, cheese, and meat. Now think of where all those products come from. These products come from animals that spend their short lives on factory farms.Establish Credibility: A factory farm is a farm on which large numbers of livestock are raised indoors in conditions intended to maximize production at minimal cost. I grew up eating steak dinners, and I drank milk with every meal.Thesis: Due to high consumer food demands, animals that produce these food products are contained in massive amounts and are given means to meet growth specifications because proportionally consumer demands are higher than animals’ natural growth and development. Preview: I will talk about the chickens, cows, and pigs that are affected by family farming and the tortures they go through every day. I will also discuss the risks that factory farms bring, and the alternatives to factory farming.Transition: BODY:Chickens According to the Farm Sanctuary organization, chickens that are used for eggs are the most abused animals. (transition)Chickens used for eggsA. Chickens who are used for eggs spend their lives from hatching to death in small cages, with many other birds. They do not have adequate enough space to lay down or to spread their wings. Female chicks get their beaks seared off not soon after birth to prevent them from peaking others in the cages. In the small cages, chickens rub against the wire sides and many chickens suffer from feather loss and many have awful cuts.Chickens cannot naturally produce enough eggs to meet high demands, so factory farms will deprive the hens of food for up to as long as two weeks and this shocks the birds’ body into another egg laying cycle and this process is called force molting. Hens are considered “spent” after 1 to 2 years and they are sent to the slaughter or they are usually gassed with carbon dioxide and sent to landfills. Chickens used for meatB. Chickens who are used for meat are kept by the thousands in large warehouse-like buildings. The large crowding of these birds force them to walk all over each other and this causes sores, scratches, and sometimes lameness. They are fed large quantities of food to promote rapid growth. These “broiler” chickens usually grow so fast that their bodies are unable to support their tremendous weight. Chickens are then sent to slaughter at only 6 to 8 weeks old and their bodies are the size of adult chickens. By this time, their hearts are unable to circulate enough oxygen around as their hearts have not grown as fast as their bodies have.CowsCows are still largely raised outside. (transition)Cows raised for dairyCows that are raised for their milk spend their lives on dairy farms and are constantly impregnated to maintain milk production. They only spend a few months rest between pregnancies and the entire process starts over. Nearly all dairy cows are considered “spent” after just five short years and are sent to slaughter.Just hours after birth, calves are taken away from their mothers, which causes distress for both mother and calf. Male calves are raised for beef and some are raised for veal. Meanwhile, female calves are raised for dairy production.Dairy cattle produce over 20,000 pounds of milk each year and some are injected with a bovine growth hormone to help increase milk production. Due to frequent milking, many cows suffer from mastitis, a painful swelling of the glands of the udders. Cows raised for meatCows that are raised for meat are taken from their mothers at early ages and are trucked to a feedlot where they will be fattened for slaughter. Calves that are raised for meat are castrated, branded, and dehorned and they are not given any pain relief. At about a year old, calves are sent from the pasture to the feedlots to be fed an unnaturally large diet and they grow at a rapid rate. The calves grow to 1,200 pounds on average before they are sent to the slaughter, and this weight is known as “market weight”. As the cattle are sent to slaughter, their bodies are sometimes unable to support their own weight and they may not be able to walk or even stand in some situations. PigsThe lives of breeding sows is spent in ongoing confinement and stress. (transition)A sow is a female pig, and factory farms use sows for breeding. Sows live in what are called “gestation crates”, where they are impregnated and wait out their pregnancies. These gestation crates are hardly larger than the sows growing body and they do not have enough room to lie down comfortably or even turn around. The floor in these crates are grated, so allows manure to fall through. The ammonia from the sows waste causes respiratory problems in many confined breeding sows. Pigs suffer from boredom in the crates and this leads them to biting on the bars of their crates and chewing while there is nothing in their mouths, and this causes extreme mouth damage.As soon as the piglets are born, both mother and babies are moved into what are called “farrowing crates”, where the piglets spend little time being nursed. These crates are so small that the sow is unable to turn around to see her piglets. At about four weeks old, the piglets are taken from their mother and are moved to large pens will they will spend the remainder of their lives until they meet market weight and are sent off to slaughter. Factory Farming and the Environment, Human Health, and Rural Communities According to Evelyn Pluhar in Meat and Mortality: Alternatives to Factory Farming- Researchers concluded that “the current animal food industry is quite simply unacceptable due to its effects on humans, the environment, and animals raised for food.” (Meat and Mortality) (transition)Just in the United States, factory farm animals produce over 1 million tons of manure each day. This manure gets put into large manure lagoons that omit dangerous greenhouse gases into the air. These manure lagoons are also at risk for toxic spills and water contamination that could easily transfer food-borne illnesses to surrounding residents. Dangerous gases also get put into the air when manure is over-applied to farm fields. The antibiotics that are given to these animals on factory farms sometimes go undigested and could potentially end up being ingested by humans which could cause a load of health problems. “According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, animal’s products are the primary source of saturated fat in the American diet. Saturated fat has been linked to heart disease and obesity. Studies have shown that the unnatural feeds used to promote growth in animals on factory farms increase the saturated fat content of meat.” Studies have shown that communities who live close to factory farms have a higher reporting of runny noses, headaches and many more symptoms. For the workers on factory farms, 25% of them report respiratory problems.In 2003, a survey was conducted in Iowa and Iowans announced that having a pig factory farm built was “less desirable to them than that of a prison, a solid waste landfill, a slaughter plant, or a sewage treatment plant”Alternatives to Factory FarmingThere are 3 alternatives to factory farming according to Evelyn Pluhar. Those alternatives would be vegetarianism, humane animal farming, and in-vitro meat. (transition)Vegetarianism is the best alternative according to Pluhar because no animals are abused, or killed. Vegetarianism is the practice of eating no products that come from animals. She believes that factory farming has dangerous consequences to animal well-being, the environment, and human health.Another option that Pluhar thought would be a good alternative is humane animal farming. Human animal farming consists are raising animal on smaller family owned farms, where they have adequate amount of space to grow, healthy feed, and the animals are not pumped with hormones and antibiotics. The last option that Pluhar thought would be acceptable as an alternative is in-vitro meat. In-vitro meat is made in a laboratory, where a single stem cell is matured and divided into a nutrient rich soup, eventually forming a slab of meat. The downside of this alternative is that it is extremely expensive. Conclusion: Many Americans, and even more Midwesterners eat animal food products, including milk, eggs, and meat. To keep up with high food demands, factory farms pump animals with antibiotics, growth hormones, and an excessive amount of feed to quicken the time it takes for the animal to meet market weight, before they are sent to the slaughter. These practices are inhumane and in many cases, the animals are undeservingly hurt and abused. Can you believe these things happen to the animals where your meat, milk, and eggs come from?Works Cited BIBLIOGRAPHY Farm Sanctuary Organization. "Factory Farming." 17 November 2013. . <. "Meet Your Meat." Factory Farming Videos. PETA, 2013.. Factory Farming in 60 Seconds. 24 September 2012. youtube video.Pluhar, Evelyn B. "Meat and Mortality: Alternatives to Factory Farming." Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics (2009): 455-468."The Curse of Factory Farms." New York Times 08 2002. ................
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