How love slowly went out of stock breeding

Can making use of animals and (at the same time) insisting that you love them go hand in hand? We don't think so. But it can be done differently.

Whereas once nobody doubted the farmer followed his profession out of love for animals and nature, nowadays it is money that is more at stake.

From small-scale farming to industrial production

Before the Second World War, when expansion and rationalization had not yet struck the livestock industry, animals were born at the farm in spring.

Now, in most cases, pigs and chickens are born in specialized breeding farms, all year round. Calves are born on "classic" dairy farms, mainly for the rather silly reason of stimulating their mother's milk yield. In most cases the calf is then taken away: to slaughter, or first to a fattening farm.

For the moment there is no other way. If it were technically possible for cows to keep producing milk without calving, this would have been introduced long ago.

Rationalization and specialization

The rationalization of "modern" livestock farming has everything to do with running the farm as efficiently as possible. The costs should be low enough for the "product" to compete with foreign producers. Not many people realize that in big exporting countries such as the Netherlands, livestock farmers produce mainly for foreign markets (in the Netherlands about two thirds). To make that possible, post-war agricultural ministers, often advised by agricultural universities such as Wageningen in the Netherlands, told every farmer to specialize, invest and scale up.

With specialization and scaling up, the love for animals disappeared from farming. Most livestock farmers no longer see their animals grow up from birth to death. Even if they did, they would no longer see the individual animal because of the large numbers.

The ethical objections to factory farming

The unethical part of factory farming is not primarily found in the moment of birth or slaughter.

The birth and death of animals are necessary as long as people and animals eat meat. In practice this is organized on an industrial scale, but in itself there is little to object to, although it can hardly be called respectful. Chicks being hatched in large numbers from eggs in incubators and then sexed on a conveyor belt is not a romantic sight.

However, there is hardly any harm to animal welfare in this mechanization. Of course, we would like a chick to be born under its mother's wings, but you can imagine that this is hardly possible economically. Still, treating the newborn chick as a "thing" is a bad sign for how it will be treated in the weeks to come. The fact that the young cockerel is shredded or gassed is a sign of industrial indifference. However serious this is, it is a matter of personal taste. The cockerels can hardly be put in an animal shelter.

Techniques to determine the sex in the egg now exist. Germany (2022) and France (2023) have banned the killing of male chicks of laying breeds, but in most countries these techniques are still rarely used. What is certain is that this animal is in any case not kept alive for long under poor conditions (factory farming).

The main objections: rearing and transport

Worse is the situation for the animals that are economically important (laying hens, broiler chickens, fattening pigs, sows and to a lesser extent dairy cows). The more important ethical objections to factory farming lie between life and death, that is during their growing up and during the long, often international transport of the animals. Because of specialization, the farmers and the transporters are now the ones who volunteer to do the dirty work.

The dependence of the modern farmer

The farming industry has made it easy for the livestock farmer by building stables and preparing the way for production on a large scale. It delivers the newly hatched chicks or piglets to the farm and picks them up after a number of weeks or months, when the animal has reached its minimum slaughter weight. As for its age, the animal is an adolescent, not even fully grown.

If the farmer cannot or does not want to grow the feed himself, it is delivered and the milk is picked up. These dairy farmers only have to milk the cows or operate the milking robot and feed the cattle. That is exactly the work the agricultural industry prefers to leave to the dairy farmer, because of the long and unfavourable working hours and the bad image. This applies even more to pig and broiler farmers who do not depend on their own land.

The apparent freedom of the farmer

Is there still something in it for the farmer in this unfavourable exchange? The farmer praises his freedom of movement on his farmyard, free enterprise and setting his own working hours, in short: his freedom.

Actually he is mainly fooling himself and his cattle. The modern farmer has made such large investments that he is essentially the bank's slave. By working hard he hopes to pay off his debts as soon as possible. Unfortunately, earnings are low, so it takes longer than he thought. When things go a bit better, he is tempted to invest even more.

This leads to a situation in which farmers who have a heart for animals stop farming or become hobby farmers. Only the farmers with the greatest desire for money remain. Meanwhile, the older public visits children's farms and organic farms with their children during open days. Because there are still cows in the fields, they think or hope that the reality still somewhat resembles the situation they remember from their childhood at their grandparents' farm.

The reality of modern factory farming

Alas, the reality for the animal kept for consumption is different. Dark stables, filled with thousands of animals having nothing else to do than feed themselves in order to become ready for slaughter as soon as possible. Then they are transported to the abattoir, sometimes for much too long.

The modern farmer has become an industrialist who spends all his time optimizing the production process and keeps the costs for feed and animal welfare to a minimum. The vet is only called in when animals show symptoms of disease that reduce production. Anybody who watches the costs will, in the long run, refrain from anything that is not minimally required by the buyer of the animal. This buyer (having no ties whatsoever with the animal) will also try to make as few welfare demands on the farmer as possible, since these would only raise the shop price for the consumer. Too few consumers are willing to pay the full price for a responsible product.

"Why is the farmer still doing his job?" one may wonder. "For the big money" must be the only answer. If a farmer loved his animals, he would stop his business or rigorously change over to organic farming.

An alternative for a healthy society

Factory farming cannot continue like this forever. There must come a moment when the public also realizes that factory farming no longer has anything to do with the healthy production of responsible food or the responsible production of healthy food, whichever you prefer.

Food from factory farming does not contribute to a healthy and fair meal. Those who really want to choose a clear conscience and a longer and healthier life should take the trouble to find out how this can be done in a pleasant and animal-friendly way, for example through a vegetarian lifestyle. This will save animals from a miserable life.

By treating themselves and other creatures (humans as well as animals) in this way, people can bring the love that has been lost back to society. This would be good for people as well as animals. At the same time, a bit more space would be created for animals and humans in an overcrowded world.