Revealing the Problem with Factory Farming

Farm Animals Need Our Help

In polling, 94% of Americans agree that animals raised for food deserve to live free from abuse and cruelty. Yet the majority of the nearly 10 billion land-based animals, plus countless more aquatic animals, farmed for food each year in the U.S. are suffering on factory farms.

Factory Farms

“Factory farm” is a term commonly used to describe an industrial facility that raises large numbers of farm animals such as pigs, chickens or cows in intensive confinement where their movements are extremely inhibited. Animals are kept in cages or crates, or are crowded together in pens. These types of farms are sometimes referred to as concentrated or confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs).

View the major sources of animal suffering on factory farms

Cages and overcrowding.
Physical alterations like teeth-clipping or tail-docking, performed without anesthetic
Indoor confinement with poor air quality and unnatural light patterns
Inability to engage in important natural behaviors, like laying eggs in nests or roosting at night
Breeding for fast growth or high yields of meat, milk and eggs that compromises animal health and welfare
Illnesses and injuries left unnoticed or untreated, often due to an unmanageable ratio of animals to workers
Reliance on antibiotics to compensate for stressful and unsanitary conditions
Rough or abusive handling by workers, often due to a lack of training, frustration at poor working conditions, unreasonable demands by superiors or poor design of facilities

It doesn’t have to be this way. By advocating for more humane farming methods and scaling back industrial animal agriculture, the ASPCA and supporters are ending countless animals’ suffering, reducing the climate impacts of animal agriculture, and improving public health

Factory Farming Hurts Animals

Animals on industrial farms endure unimaginable cruelty, some in enclosures so crowded they can’t turn around. Many never see the sunlight or graze on fresh grass.