Features Archive

YES! on Prop 2

ben.goldsmith — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 11:44:59 -0500

There’s a lot more at stake in the upcoming elections than you might think. On November 4, Californians will be asked to vote on what is perhaps the most important piece of legislation ever drafted to help farmed animals in this country.

Heritage

prattwebdesign — Thu, 29 May 2008 12:26:32 -0500

Any third-grader will tell you that the best way to draw a turkey if you are in a hurry is to trace an outline of your hand, add eyes and a beak at the tip of the thumb, and sketch a pair of legs onto the base of the palm. But what’s surprising about this exercise is that virtually none of the turkeys on American farms look even remotely similar to the birds that are represented, with varying degrees of artistry, by millions of little elementary school hands every November.

Farm Forward Launches

prattwebdesign — Thu, 29 May 2008 12:24:24 -0500

Farm Forward is committed to a simple but revolutionary idea: We can live without factory farming.

Free Range Pigs?

ben.goldsmith — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 23:47:33 -0500

In the 1990s, pig farmer Paul Willis realized that the future of his farm was no longer secure. Pressure was at an all-time high to join the factory system or get out of the hog business altogether.

"Pork-Making"

ben.goldsmith — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 20:56:20 -0500

The transition from traditional pig husbandry, “pigmanship,” to raising pigs by factory methods began with the invention of industrialized slaughter in the 19th century, but it was only recently that it transformed the way pigs were treated throughout their lives. The most devastating new methods began in the 1960s, and they have changed the way that pigs are raised more thoroughly than any other development in the history of farming. The following timeline charts the growth of industrialized farming from the 1800s to the present day:

Humane Fish?

ben.goldsmith — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 20:40:44 -0500

Is there a humane way to slaughter a fish? It’s a fair enough question, but it’s not one we usually ask. Why is it that even people who are sensitive to animals often fail to consider the lives of sea animals?

Chicken vs. Chimp

ben.goldsmith — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 23:53:31 -0500

For years, the popular misconception that birds are unintelligent has been bolstered by pseudo-scientific claims that avian brains are built in a way that renders birds incapable of learning. Recent studies have shown just how profoundly misguided this perception is.

Anything Goes

ben.goldsmith — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 23:17:54 -0500

What the Hummer is to fuel efficiency, poultry is to animal welfare. No food in the nation produces more suffering than poultry. Factory farming had its beginnings in the poultry industry in the 1920s, and no other industry has been so altered by its methods and logic.

The Lives of Cattle

ben.goldsmith — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 22:41:24 -0500

Cows are empathetic and socially sensitive animals. A cattle herd is a community, and its members rely on each other for a range of emotional needs. For example, studies show that cows are less stressed by unfamiliar circumstances when they are with cows they know. They eat less feed when other cows they associate with closely are stressed.Marie-France Bouissou et al., “The Social Behaviour of Cattle,” in Social Behaviour in Farm Animals, ed. L. J. Keeling and H. W.

Are Cowboys Kinder?

ben.goldsmith — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 22:22:13 -0500

Cattle raised for beef are the only farmed animals in America that typically spend a significant portion of their lives outdoors and free of intensive confinement. Although factory farming has devastated traditional cattle husbandry, the beef industry has resisted the factory farm model more than any other form of animal agriculture (including dairy production). Whereas pigs and poultry spend their entire lives in confinement, cattle raised for beef typically spend only half their lives in a factory farm setting—the feedlots that fatten them before slaughter.