ANIMAL RAISING PRODUCTIONIntensive animal farmingorindustrial livestock production, also calledfactory farming or animal production, is a modern form ofintensive farming that refers to the industrialized production oflivestock, including cattle, poultry (in "Battery cages") and fish in confinement at high stocking density a practice typical inindustrial farmingbyagribusinesses. The main products of this industry aremeat, milkandeggsfor human consumption. There have been issues regarding whether factory farming is sustainable and ethical. Confinement at high stocking density is one part of a systematic effort to produce the highest output at the lowest cost by relying on economies of scale, modern machinery,biotechnology, andglobal trade. Confinement at high stocking density requiresantibioticsand pesticidesto mitigate the spread of disease and pestilence exacerbated by these crowded living conditions.In addition, antibiotics are used to stimulate livestock growth by killing intestinal bacteria. There are differences in the way factory farming techniques are practiced around the world. There is a continuing debate over the benefits, risks and ethical questions of factory farming. The issues include the efficiency of food production; animal welfare; whether it is essential for feeding the growing global population; the environmental impact and the health risksand associated pollution and health issues. The practice is widespread indeveloped nations. According to theWorld watch Institute, as of 2006 74 percent of the world's poultry, 43 percent of beef, and 68 percent of eggs were produced this way. HistoryThe practice of industrial animal agriculture is a relatively recent development in thehistory of agriculture, and the result of scientific discoveries and technological advances. Innovations in agriculture beginning in the late 19th century generally parallel developments inmass productionin other industries that characterized the latter part of theIndustrial Revolution. The discovery ofvitaminsand their role in animalnutrition, in the first two decades of the 20th century, led to vitamin supplements, which allowed chickens to be raised indoors.[14]The discovery ofantibioticsandvaccinesfacilitated raising livestock in larger numbers by reducing disease. Chemicals developed for use inWorld War IIgave rise to syntheticpesticides. Developments in shipping networks and technology have made long-distance distribution of agricultural produce feasible.Agricultural production across the world doubled four times between 1820 and 1975 (1820 to 1920; 1920 to 1950; 1950 to 1965; and 1965 to 1975) to feed a global population of one billion human beings in 1800 and 6.5 billion in 2002. During the same period, the number of people involved in farming dropped as the process became more automated. In the 1930s, 24 percent of the American population worked in agriculture compared to 1.5 percent in 2002; in 1940, each farm worker supplied 11 consumers, whereas in 2002, each worker supplied 90 consumers. According to theBBC, the era factory farming per se in Britain began in 1947 when a new Agriculture Act granted subsidies to farmers to encourage greater output by introducing new technology, in order to reduce Britain's reliance on imported meat. The United Nations writes that "intensification of animal production was seen as a way of providing food security. In 1960s North America, pigs and cows began to be raised on factory farms. From its American and West European heartland factory farming became globalised in the later years of the 20th century and is still expanding and replacing traditional practices of stock rearing in an increasing number of countries. In 1990 factory farming accounted for 30% of world meat production and by 2005 this had risen to 40%.Contemporary animal productionFactory farms hold large numbers of animals, typically cows, pigs, turkeys, or chickens, often indoors, typically at high densities. The aim of the operation is to produce large quantities of meat, eggs, or milk at the lowest possible cost. Food is supplied in place, and a wide variety of artificial methods are employed to maintain animal health and improve production, such as the use of antimicrobial agents, vitamin supplements, and growth hormones. Physical restraints are used to control movement or actions regarded as undesirable. Breeding programs are used to produce animals more suited to the confined conditions and able to provide a consistent food product.Factory farming is widespread indeveloped nations. According to theWorldwatch Institute, as of 2006, 74 percent of the world's poultry, 43 percent of beef, and 68 percent of eggs were produced this way. In the U.S., as of 2000 four companies produced 81 percent of cows, 73 percent of sheep, 60 percent of pigs, and 50 percent of chickens and according to its National Pork Producers Council, 80 million of its 95 million pigs slaughtered each year are reared in industrial settings.ChickensIn the United States, chickens were raised primarily on family farms until roughly 1960. Originally, the primary value in poultry was eggs, and meat was considered a byproduct of egg production.Its supply was less than the demand, and poultry was expensive. Except in hot weather, eggs can be shipped and stored without refrigeration for some time before going bad; this was important in the days before widespread refrigeration.Farm flocks tended to be small because the hens largely fed themselves through foraging, with some supplementation of grain, scraps, and waste products from other farm ventures. Such feedstuffs were in limited supply, especially in the winter, and this tended to regulate the size of the farm flocks. Soon after poultry keeping gained the attention of agricultural researchers (around 1896), improvements in nutrition and management made poultry keeping more profitable and businesslike.Prior to about 1910, chicken was served primarily on special occasions or Sunday dinner. Poultry was shipped live or killed, plucked, and packed on ice (but not eviscerated). The "whole, ready-to-cook broiler" was not popular until the 1950s, when end-to-end refrigeration and sanitary practices gave consumers more confidence. Before this, poultry were often cleaned by the neighborhood butcher, though cleaning poultry at home was a commonplace kitchen skill.Two kinds of poultry were generally used: broilers or "spring chickens;" young male chickens, a byproduct of the egg industry, which were sold when still young and tender (generally under 3 pounds live weight), and "stewing hens," also a byproduct of the egg industry, which were old hens past their prime for laying. The major milestone in 20th century poultry production was the discovery of vitamin D, which made it possible to keep chickens in confinement year-round. Before this, chickens did not thrive during the winter (due to lack of sunlight), and egg production, incubation, and meat production in the off-season were all very difficult, making poultry a seasonal and expensive proposition. Year-round production lowered costs, especially for broilers.At the same time, egg production was increased by scientific breeding. After a few false starts, (such as the Maine Experiment Station's failure at improving egg production) success was shown by Professor Dryden at the Oregon Experiment Station. Improvements in production and quality were accompanied by lower labor requirements. In the 1930s through the early 1950s, 1,500 hens was considered to be a full-time job for a farm family. In the late 1950s, egg prices had fallen so dramatically that farmers typically tripled the number of hens they kept, putting three hens into what had been a single-bird cage or converting their floor-confinement houses from a single deck of roosts to triple-decker roosts. Not long after this, prices fell still further and large numbers of egg farmers left the business.Robert Plamondon reports that the last family chicken farm in his part of Oregon, Rex Farms, had 30,000 layers and survived into the 1990s. But the standard laying house of the current operators is around 125,000 hens.This fall in profitability was accompanied by a general fall in prices to the consumer, allowing poultry and eggs to lose their status as luxury foods.Thevertical integrationof the egg and poultry industries was a late development, occurring after all the major technological changes had been in place for years (including the development of modern broiler rearing techniques, the adoption of the Cornish Cross broiler, the use of laying cages, etc.).By the late 1950s, poultry production had changed dramatically. Large farms and packing plants could grow birds by the tens of thousands. Chickens could be sent to slaughterhousesfor butchering and processing into prepackaged commercial products to be frozen or shipped fresh to markets or wholesalers. Meat-type chickens currently grow to market weight in six to seven weeks, whereas only fifty years ago it took three times as long. This is due to genetic selection and nutritional modifications (and not the use of growth hormones, which are illegal for use in poultry in the US and many other countries). Once a meat consumed only occasionally, the common availability and lower cost has made chicken a common meat product within developed nations. Growing concerns over thecholesterolcontent ofred meatin the 1980s and 1990s further resulted in increased consumption of chicken.Today, eggs are produced on large egg ranches on which environmental parameters are well controlled. Chickens are exposed to artificial light cycles to stimulate egg production year-round. In addition, it is a common practice to inducemoltingthrough careful manipulation of light and the amount of food they receive in order to further increase egg size and production.On average, a chicken lays one egg a day, but not on every day of the year. This varies with the breed and time of year. In 1900, average egg production was 83 eggs per hen per year. In 2000, it was well over 300. In the United States, laying hens are butchered after their second egg laying season. In Europe, they are generally butchered after a single season. The laying period begins when the hen is about 1820 weeks old (depending on breed and season). Males of the egg-type breeds have little commercial value at any age, and all those not used for breeding (roughly fifty percent of all egg-type chickens) are killed soon after hatching. The old hens also have little commercial value. Thus, the main sources of poultry meat 100 years ago (spring chickens and stewing hens) have both been entirely supplanted by meat-type broiler chickens.Some believe the "deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu is essentially a problem of industrial poultry practices".Others have a more nuanced position. According to theCDCarticleH5N1 Outbreaks and Enzootic InfluenzabyRobert G. Websteret al.:"Transmission of highly pathogenic H5N1 from domestic poultry back to migratory waterfowl in western China has increased the geographic spread. The spread of H5N1 and its likely reintroduction to domestic poultry increase the need for good agricultural vaccines. In fact, the root cause of the continuing H5N1 pandemic threat may be the way the pathogenicity of H5N1 viruses is masked by cocirculating influenza viruses or bad agricultural vaccines." Dr. Robert Webster explains: "If you use a good vaccine you can prevent the transmission within poultry and to humans. But if they have been using vaccines now [in China] for several years, why is there so much bird flu? There is bad vaccine that stops the disease in the bird but the bird goes on pooping out virus and maintaining it and changing it. And I think this is what is going on in China. It has to be. Either there is not enough vaccine being used or there is substandard vaccine being used. Probably both. Its not just China. We cant blame China for substandard vaccines. I think there are substandard vaccines for influenza in poultry all over the world."In response to the same concerns, Reuters reports Hong Kong infectious disease expert Lo Wing-lok saying, "The issue of vaccines has to take top priority," and Julie Hall, in charge of the WHO's outbreak response in China, saying China's vaccinations might be masking the virus."The BBC reported that Dr Wendy Barclay, a virologist at the University of Reading, UK said: "The Chinese have made a vaccine based on reverse genetics made with H5N1 antigens, and they have been using it. There has been a lot of criticism of what they have done, because they have protected their chickens against death from this virus but the chickens still get infected; and then you get drift the virus mutates in response to the antibodies and now we have a situation where we have five or six 'flavours' of H5N1 out there."Keeping wild birds away from domestic birds is known to be key in the fight against H5N1. Caging (nofree rangepoultry) is one way. Providing wild birds with restored wetlands so they naturally choose nonlivestock areas is another way that helps accomplish this. Political forces are increasingly demanding the selection of one, the other, or both based on nonscientific reasons. CattleCattle, colloquially referred to as cows, aredomesticatedungulates, a member of thesubfamilyBovinaeof thefamilyBovidae. They are raised as livestock for meat (called beef and veal),dairy products(milk), leather and asdraught animals(pullingcarts,plowsand the like). In some countries, such asIndia, they are honored in religious ceremonies and revered. It is estimated that there are 1.4 billion head of cattle in the world today. Cattle are often raised by allowing herds tograzeon the grasses of large tracts ofrangelandcalledranches. Raising cattle in this manner allows the productive use of land that might be unsuitable for growing crops. The most common interactions with cattle involve dailyfeeding, cleaning andmilking. Many routine husbandry practices involveear tagging, dehorning, loading,medical operations, vaccinations andhoofcare, as well as training for agricultural shows and preparations. There are also some cultural differences in working with cattle- the cattle husbandry of Fulani men rests onbehavioural techniques, whereas in Europe cattle are controlled primarily by physical means likefences. Once cattle obtain an entry-level weight, about 650 pounds (300kg), they are transferred from the range to afeedlotto be fed a specializedanimal feedwhich consists of corn byproducts (derived from ethanol production), barley, and other grains as well as alfalfa,cottonseed meal, and premixes composed of micro ingredients such as vitamins, minerals, chemical preservatives,antibiotics, fermentation products, and other essential ingredients that are purchased from premix companies, usually in sacked form, for blending into commercial rations. Because of the availability of these products, a farmer who uses his own grain can formulate his own rations and be assured his animals are getting the recommended levels of minerals and vitamins. Breeders can utilise cattle husbandry to reduceM. bovis infectionsusceptibility by selective breeding and maintaining herd health to avoid concurrent disease.Cattle are farmed for beef, veal, dairy, leather and they are sometimes used simply to maintain grassland for wildlife- for example, inEpping Forest, England. They are often used in some of the most wild places for livestock. Depending on the breed, cattle can survive on hill grazing, heaths, marshes, moors and semi desert. Modern cows are more commercial than older breeds and having become more specialised are less versatile. For this reason many smaller farmers still favour old breeds, like the dairy breed of cattleJersey.There are many potential impacts on human health due to the modern cattle industrial agriculture system. There are concerns surrounding the antibiotics and growth hormones used, increased E. Coli contamination, higher saturated fat contents in the meat because of the feed, and also environmental concerns. As of 2010, in the U.S. 766,350 producers participate in raising beef. The beef industry is segmented with the bulk of the producers participating in raising beef calves. Beef calves are generally raised in small herds, with over 90% of the herds having less than 100 head of cattle. Fewer producers participate in the finishing phase which often occurs in a feedlot, but nonetheless there are 82,170 feedlots in the United States.