Grist: You Don't Want to Watch This (factory farming brutality)

Meat Wagon: Undercover video shows sick calves getting brains bashed in with pickax, and more

by Tom Philpott
20 Apr 2011 2:59 PM


As I've written so many times before, much of the dysfunction in our food system stems from its hyper-consolidation: It's controlled by a handful of companies whose business models hinge on selling huge volumes of cheap food. When you make money by selling cheap, the whole game is about cutting costs. A system hinged on slashing costs can be counted on to produce a shoddy product, as well as all manner of unintended damage.

One case in point: In the highly consolidated livestock industry, where vast market power resides with a few packers and processors, animal abuse in factory-scale farms becomes routine. Taking care of animals properly is a cost -- and costs must be minimized so that profit can be eked out.

We know that animal abuse is rampant, but not because the industry is open about its practices or because government oversight is relentless in exposing them. The industry fights like a cornered bull to hide factory-farm conditions from the public; as for government regulators, take a look at how they acquitted themselves overseeing the nation's largest egg producer in the run-up to last year's massive salmonella egg recall.

We know about foul factory-farm conditions only because animal-rights groups like Mercy for Animals and the Humane Society keep infiltrating factory farms with video cameras. In the absence of government oversight, they are the public's eyes on the ground. Right now, in at least three states, meat-industry lobbyists (in league with Monsanto) are pushing legislation that would criminalize the practice of sneaking cameras onto factory farms. In the meantime, here's the latest video, from Mercy For Animals; it was filmed in a large Texas calving operation for the dairy industry called E6. Warning: This is the roughest of these videos that I've ever seen; it opens with a man killing a sick calf by smashing its brains in with a pickaxe. .........(more)

The complete piece and video are at: http://www.grist.org/factory-farms/2011-04-20-undercover-video-shows-sick-calves-brains-bashed-with-pickax

but do they really have to be tortured, mutilate, drugged up and abused before we kill them?

Thees animals give us life, happiness, food and health, why can't we do the same for them until we eat them?

But gotta K&R to END inhumane factory farming once and for all.

Fuck Monsanto and fuck corporate greed which is the real reason for factory farms.

That is the reason why I have been a vegetarian for 12 years.