Are farm animals treated humanely?
“But Adam, it’s ok that we eat animals bred for food because they’re treated humanely and given great lives before they’re killed, right?” Well if we ignore the fact that humane slaughter is an oxymoron, let’s look at industry standard procedures in the animal agriculture industry:
Forced impregnation on a device the industry calls “the rape rack”: “The “rape rack” is a narrow, chute-like device in which female cows are restrained while they undergo a process the dairy industry euphemistically refers to as “artificial insemination.” During artificial insemination (AI), a dairy worker inserts one of his arms into the rectum of a restrained cow and, with his other arm, inserts a rod-like device called an Al gun into her vagina. The Al gun, which contains bull semen, is pushed in further until it reaches the cervix (the entrance to the uterus). The semen is then injected into the uterus”
Suffocating and grinding up day-old male chicks: “Some methods of culling that do not involve anaesthetics include: cervical dislocation, asphyxiation by carbon dioxide, and maceration using a high-speed grinder”
Bolt stunning failures are very common, causing them to feel pain when they die: “The proportions of assessments in which there were no failures were 28%“
“But Adam, I only buy grass-fed pasture-raised organic free-range small family-owned meat and dairy, surely this doesn’t happen on those farms?” Let me first point out that in the US 99% of animals are factory farmed, and worldwide that number is 94%, so these small family farms represent such a small subset of where animals come from anyway. But that aside, unfortunately, these are industry standards, even on small farms. You may see better treatment of animals to a degree on small farms, but there’s no guarantee. Some allow their animals to graze instead of being confined in small quarters, but much of what is described here is still occurring on small farms. And of course, an animal’s life on all farms ends the same way, with the animal being killed for food.
And since we already know that there is no reason to eat animals, all of this is unnecessary, and therefore morally wrong.