1. Animal Agriculture
“The average person is still under the aberrant delusion that food should be somebody else's responsibility until I'm ready to eat it.” - Joel Salatin

2. Domestication
As with plants, each of the animals we now raise as a source of food once lived in the wild.
Through artificial selection, livestock grow much faster and larger than their wild ancestors.
Animals are grown in Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO) – farms where large numbers of animals are generally raised in confined and crowded conditions.

3. Cattle
Beef and dairy cattle are descendants of aurochs, grazing mammals that lived across Europe, Northern Africa, India, and Central Asia.
Most likely lived in herds in open grassland areas.
Went extinct in 1627 due to overhunting, loss of habitat, and diseases spread from domesticated cattle.

4. All cattle are ruminants, meaning they have a large stomach compartment called the rumen that can break plant matter down into a form that they can extract nutrients from.
The process is called fermentation – bacteria actually digest the plant matter into simpler sugars.
This is a mutualistic relationship – both species benefit.

5. Beef Cattle
Beef cattle are bred specifically to grow fast and have heavy, stocky bodies.
For the first 6-8 months of life, beef cattle undergo backgrounding, where they are raised in a pasture to gain weight and build up immunity before entering a feedlot.

6. Beef calves are raised either in rangelands or pasture lands.
Rangelands are natural ecosystems (prairie, temperate desert, etc) that mostly contain native vegetation.
Pasturelands are seeded, fertilized, and irrigated by humans.
In the United States, rangelands are federal (public) land managed by the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management.
Rangelands of the United States

7. Feedlots
Once the calves reach about 6-8 months of age, they are moved to a CAFO for finishing.
Finishing minimizes the movement of the cattle and provides them a much more energy intensive diet of corn.
These cattle gain weight much more rapidly than if they were raised in the pasture.

8. Grain-finished beef has more calories and total fat than grass-fed beef, with significant differences in taste.

9. The manure can enter nearby surface waters, causing two problems:
CAFOs produce a tremendous amount of manure, in some cases more than an entire small city.
The manure can enter nearby surface waters, causing two problems:
Bacterial contamination
Decrease in dissolved oxygen levels due to bacterial decomposition.
Satellite Image:
Coronado Feeders, Dalhart Texas.
By Mishka Henner

10. A high-grain diet causes multiple health effects on the animals:
Acidosis, a unusually high rate of acidity in the blood and digestive system.
Growth of acid-resistant E. Coli bacteria, which cause food poisoning.
Greater production of methane (CH4), a potent greenhouse gas.

11. Food poisoning is an intestinal disease caused by bacteria and toxins produced by bacteria present in food.
The bacteria come from the intestines of the cattle, which sometimes splatter on the meat during slaughter and processing.
Ground beef is one of the highest-risk foods for food poisoning, because it contains meat from many animals.

12. Dairy Production
Dairy cows are breeds of cattle that produce large amounts (about 9,000kg/year) of milk.

13. A typical schedule for dairy cattle:
At about 1 year of age, a cow will be bred for the first time.
The cow gives birth to a calf, which is removed within three days before the mother/calf bond intensifies.
The cow will be bred again within 1-3 months.
Milking continues for about 10 months after giving birth.
The cow is “dried off” for 2 months before giving birth again, and the process continues.
When milk production declines, the cow is slaughtered for meat.

14. Cows are grouped and herded into milking stations twice a day.
Large producers are able to schedule their cows so they are constantly milking one part of the herd, 24/7!
Rotary Milking Station

15. Hormones
Some dairy cattle are injected with growth hormones that maximize the length their peak milk production time.
Hormones are chemicals produced in the body to stimulate certain cells or tissues into action.
These hormones also increase the risk of mastitis, an infection of the udders.
Many dairy companies have discontinued the use of these hormones due to public demand.

16. Pasteurization
Most milk is pasteurized, which means it is heated to a high temperature to kill most of the bacteria that can cause food poisoning or milk spoilage.
The longer time that the milk is heated, the more bacteria is killed, extending its shelf life.

17. Veal Female beef and dairy calves are usually kept within the herd.
Male calves are fed an iron-deficient milk replacer and raised in confined crates to minimize their movements, creating veal.
Veal meat has a more pale color, as the muscle tissue is anemic.

18. Chickens
The domestic chicken comes from the Red Junglefowl, which is native to India and much of Asia.
The birds are omnivorous, feeding on insects, fruit, and seeds.

19. There are two main types of domesticated chickens.
Laying hens have been bred for high levels of egg production (~250/year).
Broiler hens have been bred to grow large and quickly (6.6lbs in 8 weeks)

20. Laying Hens
Most laying hens are raised in battery cages arranged in identical rows and columns.
Female chicks are placed in the cages, in groups of four, and spend their entire lives there.
Each hen gets a space about the size of a 8½ x 11 sheet of paper.
Feeding and egg collection is automated.
Light levels are near constant, at least 17 hours per day.
To prevent injuries from fighting, chicks are debeaked and declawed.

21. Broiler Hens
Broiler hens have much larger thighs and breasts than other breeds of chickens.
Reach full slaughter weight in 2 months.
Broiler chickens are raised in open pens instead of cages to prevent injury and bruising of the meat.

22. Pigs
Domesticated pigs are bred from wild boars, native across Europe, Asia, and northern Africa.
Adult males live alone, while females and offspring travel in large groups.
Boars are omnivores, feeding on mostly plant matter but also insects, worms, eggs, and even small mammals.

23. Tails are often cut off at birth to prevent biting.
Domesticated pigs, especially pink-skinned ones, are very sensitive to sunburn and heat stress.
Raised indoors in temperature-controlled batch pens.
Tails are often cut off at birth to prevent biting.

24. Slaughter
When animals reach full size, they are sent to a facility to be slaughtered and prepared for human use.
The Federal Humane Slaughter Act requires that cattle, pigs, and sheep be rendered unconscious beforehand.
Poultry, fish, rabbits, and other animals are not included.
Exceptions are made for Kosher and Halal animals, which remain conscious.

25. Livestock Slaughter
Pigs and cattle are mostly slaughtered with a device called a stunner.
Injects a metal bolt between the animal’s eyes.
Chains are attached to the animal’s rear legs, which raise it up and deliver it to another person that cuts its aorta with a long knife.
The animal is then sent through several other stations that clean it, remove the hide, and cut the muscle into the different portions of meat.

26. Cattle Slaughterhouse

27. Poultry Slaughter
Chickens are first stunned, usually by passing the birds through a low-voltage electric field.
Slaughter is achieved by cutting the throat.
A boiling water bath is used after slaughter to soften the skin and make feather removal easier.

29. Euthanasia
Euthanasia is the practice of intentionally ending a life to relieve pain and suffering.
Poultry and livestock may be euthanized if they are very sick, lame, or otherwise unfit to be raised to slaughter weight.
Legal requirements for euthanasia vary by state.

30. Health Issues
Intensive factory farming of animals has created a lot of secondary health effects in both the animals and humans.
Antibiotics, chemicals that inhibit the growth of bacteria, are administered to livestock to reduce the amount of illness and maximize their growth rate.
About 70-80% of the antibiotics manufactured in the U.S. are used on animals.

31. Alternative Animal Agriculture
Cage-Free means that the animals are not kept in battery cages. Confined pens may still be used.
Certified Humane animals “must be able to perform natural behaviors such as nesting”.
Free range animals receive a certain minimum amount of outdoor access.
Organic means that the animals were raised with organic feed and not given antibiotics.

32. Misleading Labels
Greenwashing is a practice of using terms to present an environmentally responsible public image.
“No hormones or steroids added” is a meaningless label in poultry, because these are banned for poultry production in the U.S.
Vegetarian-fed simply means the animals are fed grains such as corn.
“All natural” and “minimally processed” have no strict legal definition.

33. Grass-fed beef and milk must be given free outdoor access during the growing season, and may not be fed grain (e.g. corn).

34. Prime, choice, and select are grades given to cuts of meat by USDA inspectors.
Based on the amount of fat, or marbling, within the meat.