The ethics if factory farming

[Zack]

I don't buy meat from the store much anymore. I prefer to eat my own livestock since I know where it comes from and how it was raised. If I don't have it then I go in on a steer or hog with a neighbor. We take it to the local meat locker and have it slaughtered. I also have a deal with another neighbor for deer. I let him hunt a buck on my land for the trophy ( that's all he wants) and he gives me the meat. It's a nice trade in my opinion. Most of the vegetables and some of my fruit is grown here too. Not everyone can or wants to do this so I think factory farming is a benefit. The downside is I live in Indiana; factory farming and BigAg are king. This leads to really dirty lakes and rivers as regulations are quite relaxed. Some fun facts: Indiana has roughly 6x as many hogs as Iowa has people. Adams County has more than 6 million hens, while Jay county has 3 million. In total you have: 3.3 million hogs, 71,000 dairy cows, nearly 24,000 beef cattle, 22.5 million egg-laying hens and 4.7 million broiler chickens just on factory farms. This may not sound like much but in a small state (38th in size) with a population of only 6.5 million people, the shit literally piles up before some asshole dumps it in a river or lake. The fines for these practices usually amount to about 5-10k dollars. Peanuts when you consider the profits. For shits and giggles another "ag-gag" bill has been introduced to the legislature making whistle blowing and/or video taping processing plants and farms a felony. These farms happen to be one of the reasons I don't drink the tap water. The artesian wells it comes from have a giant soybean field directly over top. While I do see the need for factory farms, there is a tremendous amount of room for improvement.