32 disturbing facts the animal agriculture industry does not want you to know

By Gloria Stovall

For those of you who are not vegan, I wholeheartedly recommend watching live documentaries about animal welfare in the animal agriculture industry, so you can know firsthand how you are significantly contributing to the most horrific animal abuse and cruelty on the face of the earth.  There are literally no words to describe the intense cruelty and abuse farm animals must endure daily, for the purpose of human food consumption and use.  I often have intense conversations and debates with non-vegans, and when I encourage them to watch live documentaries about animal welfare, slaughterhouses, factory farming, animal cruelty and so forth, they tell me “No thank you, it is too depressing to watch” or “I would rather not know.”  In other words, they would rather be oblivious to the heartbreaking truth about the inhumane treatment the dead animal on their shiny dinner plates endured for the short period of time they were alive.  

From the day a farm animal is born to the day of slaughter, that precious soul lived a life full of misery, pain, torture, and unimaginable abuse. I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but the multibillion animal agriculture industry intentionally shields, protects, and blinds consumers from the sad truth about their inhumane treatment of animals as they do not want to lose a single dollar from their lucrative business.  I am obviously not a friend or fan of animal agriculture, and more than anything in the world, I want to put this brutal industry out of business by exposing the truth about their evil practices! The following are thirty-two facts the animal agriculture industry does not want you to know.  

1. There are no federal laws that set humane care standards for animals in factory farms.
2. Factory farming produces huge amounts of animal waste that pollutes the air with over 380 harmful gasses. 
3. Most animals slaughtered for food are babies, which means you are eating babies!
4. Male chicks are considered worthless and killed at 1 day old by gassing, suffocation, electrocution and grounded up, live. 
5. Veal comes from male calves (babies) who are killed at just a few months old.
6. Male calves (babies) are considered useless and often slaughtered within hours of being born or forced to live in tiny, cramped veal crates until slaughtered. 
7. All animals including cows, pigs, lamb, turkeys, ducks, goats, rabbits, geese chickens, and fish are mostly slaughtered as babies.
8. Factory fish farming is deplorable, cruel, and sadly, farmed fish are extremely confined and exposed to drugs and harmful chemicals. 
9. Chickens are cruelly debeaked without painkillers.  Debeaking is the practice of taking off part of the upper beak. 
10. Pigs are typically slaughtered at 5-6 months old.
11. “Veal” calves are typically slaughtered at 1-24 weeks old.
12. Chickens (broilers/meat breeds) are typically slaughtered at 5-7 weeks old. 
13. Ducks are typically slaughtered at 7-8 weeks old. 
14. Rabbits are typically slaughtered at 10-12 weeks old. 
15. Goats are typically slaughtered at 12-20 weeks old. 
16. Geese are typically slaughtered at 15-20 weeks old. 
17. Turkeys are typically slaughtered at 10-17 weeks old. 
18. Pigs are typically slaughtered at 5-6 months old. 
19. Lambs are typically slaughtered at 4-12 months old. 
20. “Beef” cattle are typically slaughtered at 18 months old. 
21. Pigs (breeding sows) are typically slaughtered at 3-5 years old. 
22. Dairy cows are typically slaughtered at 4 years old. 
23. Most chickens and turkeys are unnaturally bred to grow so fast that their bodies cannot endure, often causing their legs to literally break from the fast weight gain.  
24. Cows produce methane emissions, which accelerate climate change. 
25. Animal agriculture is an overwhelming stench of feces, dimly lit indoor spaces without windows and the screams of dying animals. 
26. Animals are cruelly controlled for their entire lives on factory farms and subjected to tortures that force their bodies to produce the maximum amount of product. 
27. Animal agriculture involves confining large numbers of animals in tiny spaces. 
28. Most egg laying hens in the United States are confined to small battery cages for their entire lives. 
29. Factory farmed dairy cows spend their entire life indoors and continuously, forcibly impregnated, so they lactate (produce milk) for human consumption.  
30. Newborn calves are immediately taken away from their mothers after birth, causing the mothers to cry out and scream for their calf many days afterwards.  
31. Sows (pregnant pigs) are forced into tiny gestation crates, preventing them from turning around.  These pigs are forced to face the same direction for months as they are unable to turn around, move, walk, or socialize.  
32. In the United States, animals on factory farms produce an estimated 885 billion pounds of manure, significantly contributing to global warming and climate change.  

I only mentioned thirty-one facts about the atrocious animal agriculture industry, but please know there are over 5000 facts this evil industry does not want you to know.  Do you know where your food comes from? Are you contributing to animal suffering? Have you ever seen a pig in a gestation crate?  They are literally unable to move!  Have you seen male chicks gassed and grounded up live? Have you ever heard the cries of a mother cow with her newborn calf as they are ripped apart?  It is utterly heartbreaking and going VEGAN is the only way to stop this unspeakable cruelty, so let’s all put animal agriculture industry out of business by going VEGAN!

Thank you always for following my blog.  I hope and pray you are well, thriving, and working towards those goals and dreams.  I always welcome your comments and or suggestions about future topics about the vegan lifestyle.  In my next blog entry, I am going to discuss seafood as some people think fish, shrimp, lobster, and seafood in general do not feel pain. 

I will be in touch soon!  Have a blessed weekend!