Dairy farmers work hard to bring fresh and wholesome milk products to the marketplace. Most farms are family-owned. As active members of their communities, farm families take pride in maintaining the environment. That means preserving the land where they live and work and protecting the quality of the air and water they share with neighbors. More importantly, it means providing the best care for their cows, which are the lifeblood of their business.
This virtual field trip will teach student about life on a modern dairy farm and the many ways dairy farming contribute to our lives
In 1990, there were over 9300 dairy farms in Ontario housing almost 450,000 cows. The farm-gate value of milk produced exceeded 1.3 billion dollars. At the retail level, dairy product sales in Ontario exceeded 4 billion dollars. The number of dairy herds in Ontario on a milk-testing program had declined from about 7100 in 1985 to 6000 in 1990. Moreover, a continued decrease was projected.
Even though the dairy cows seem to be well taken care of based on their healthier diets and I am sure the chickens are rotated. Something about the fact that the cows are hooked up to machines, instead of being handled by people and that the chickens never actually get to roam around, like I feel they were intended to bothers me. This may come from me being an animal lover or my distaste for large corporations. Although I have pondered this thought many times since reading the chapter, I am still unsure what makes me so uncomfortable. I much more enjoyed reading about the small organic farms. Even though organic food is more expensive, it usually tastes better, and is better for our health. As well as being better for the environment. These organic farms use manure and other natural methods instead of toxic pesticides. Pollan’s statements throughout the chapter flowed nicely and kept me thinking that the next time I am shopping I wanted to know where the productions is based out of because I would much rather purchase from a small organic farm rather than large scale.
According to a website spiked “in defense of factory farming”, the CEO Gary Corbett from Fair Oaks dairy farm in Indianapolis said that the cows lives better than other animals. The cows have their own Scientifics that created
All across america, cows are confined to crowded, almost prison-like cells, with little to no regard to their health. They are forced to eat food that includes such ingredients like manure, cement, or even cow brains. This is one side of farming, but there is another. This farming has cows and other animals living how they would in nature, across rolling hills and bright green grasses. This is the essence of Local Sustainable farming. As defined in Michael Pollan’s award-winning commentary about the food we eat, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, the Local Sustainable Food Chain, one of four possible food chains, is characterized by not using pesticides, treating animals humanely, and sustainably creating healthier organic food. Out of Michael Pollan’s food chains, the Local Sustainable Food Chain is the best for America as it is much less harmful to the environment and lets animals live in their natural states.
The effects of factory farming is not worth the damage that is done to the health of the environment, animals, and people. The idea of a factory farm is to produce meat at a faster pace, but the way these companies accomplish this task makes life a living hell for the animals. For example, “They’re often given so little space that they can’t even turn around or lie down comfortably. Egg-laying hens are kept in small cages, chickens and pigs are kept in jam-packed sheds, and cows are kept on crowded, filthy feedlots”(Factory). The animals on these farms have to experience constant fear and agony, especially since most factory farmed animals will be genetically manipulated to grow larger or to produce more milk or eggs than they naturally would, and suffer severe pain throughout their entire life(Factory). Animals, especially cows, are being abused not only physically, but mentally as well.. For example, “just within hours of birth, calves are taken away from
Dairy farming has changed because of technology over the years. Dairy products are now made easier and faster and can be cropped in a short amount of time. Cows are now milked faster so that farmers can get a better profit and more money. In 2009 the Johnsons installed four robotic milking machines. Johnson said that ”they went crazy for that”and it did all the work in ten minutes.the farms were getting bigger because of technology but farms started to decrease because their were bigger individual ones. Thousands of the farms went out of business because technology was expensive and many people could not afford it. Now that technology was found people could go on vacations. “ Johnson and his family could be more involved in their community
In the online simulation My Virtual Child, I was responsible in making crucial decisions that impacted how my child developed. Each decision would either negatively or positively impact my child’s future. The decisions ranged from how I, as the parent would react towards my child when they were fussy and crying, to making a decision regarding education. These decisions no matter how slightly small or big played a huge role in my child’s future.
Dairy farmers should make sure their businesses are in the right shape to seize the opportunities
www.farmsanctuary.org Factory Farming and the Environment describes some of the concerns that come about with large scale farms. Factory farms need very large numbers of acres to keep the cows fed and the people in nearby communities fed also. Factory farms need millions of gallons of water to water crops and for all the animals. The farms also produce large amounts of manure which are generally collected in large pits until it can be transported into the fields. The fact is large amounts of manure are used to help crops grow and rarely go into oceans or rivers because there are many regulations and inspections that deal with the movement of manure. When there is a disaster and large amounts of manure does get into oceans and streams, many animals and other living things are affected and or killed. Methane from all animals is a big greenhouse gas and many environmentalists believe having too many farm animals is adding to the effect on the climate change. www.ciwf.org.uk.com Compassion in world farming is where I found a lot of information about this subject. Without large scale farms there would not be enough food to feed the billions of people in the world. People either don't know how to or are too lazy to grow food for themselves. If more people would raise their own food it would ultimately reduce the
Factory farms have become an ingrained part of our society. They are depended on by people daily. However, it is not generally a fact people ponder often. A large portion of the average Americans food comes from factory farms. What individuals also do not realize is the damage these farms are doing to them daily. However, recently it has become a more prominent problem that many Americans and individuals around the world have started to recognize and raise concern about. Many are now considering this fact every day. Factory farms, specifically in the U.S. are a growing social problem that contributes to animal abuse, the deterioration of our environment, and damage to the local economy.
Throughout the school year and during the summer, March Farms offers field trips to elementary, middle, and high school students to educate them on the importance of farming, and the history of March Farms. March Farms also works with UCONN students to address problems concerning agriculture and their farm, and possible solutions to these problems. They also like to educate adults during tours about the farm and their innovations and ecologically friendly farming
What do most people picture when hearing the word “farm?” Most would probably think of green pastures, white picket fences, and animals out in a field. However, factory farming exists as a much harsher reality. Factory farming is the mass containment of farm animals intended for use as livestock. This type of farming often involves cages confining the livestock, giving little to no range of motion;animals are stacked on top of each other, row on row. With factory farming, the term “free range” could almost be considered foreign. Factory farms often have very poor living conditions for the animals. For example, waste disposal is so poorly managed that the animals live amongst it, and the fumes that come from it. If the waste
At this very moment, there are approximately 250 million cows being used in the dairy industry. 9 million of those cows are in America, and 16.5 percent of those will die from disease. That’s just one of the outcomes on a dairy farm. Animal cruelty is intentionally inflicting suffering or harm upon any non-human animal, whether it is legal or not. Dairy farms fall under the “animal cruelty” label for many reasons. Not only do cows get injected with hormones that cause disease, but they also have to live in unsanitary living conditions, and the cows suffer with a lot of health and emotional problems due to forced impregnation.
Unfortunately for other animals, dairy cows are not the only creatures living on these farms. Chickens, pigs, and male cows also meet an unbearable fate. They do not go through the cycle of pregnancy like the mother cows but are met with all the other same unfavorable conditions. Yes, they too are force fed an unnatural diet, pumped with hormones so that they grow to unnatural and unhealthy sizes, and are physically abused.
Which brings us to the quality of the milk, lots of commercial farms put steroids in there cows to produce more milk than a regular cow could produce, prolactin, steroids including estrogens, progesterone, corticoids, and androgens, these are just some of the steroids commercial farmers inject in there cows. Sometimes when a cow produces too much milk they could develop mastitis in cows, mastitis is an infection or inflammation in the udders which makes them produce chunky milk it can be potentially fatal in the mammary gland and very expensive for the dairy commercial/industrial farms says HDB dairy, if the udders of a dairy cow doesn 't work they often get shot and get butchered for meat just because the farm was pushing them to hard