If any kid ever realized what was involved in factory farming they would never touch meat again. I was so moved by the intelligence, sense of fun and personalities of the animals I worked with on 'Babe' that by the end of the film I was a vegetarian.

— James Cromwell, actor

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Farm Animal Abuse

This is Sharan’s co-founder, Nandita Shah’s account of a one-month internship at Farm Sanctuary, an organization in upstate New York (USA), whose mission is to raise awareness about the plight of farm animals.

Nandita spent June 2004 at Farm Sanctuary’s property of 175 acres near Watkin's Glen, NY. “It was a truly amazing experience to be amongst about 500 farm animals, which had been rescued in cruelty cases all over the US and all the wonderful people at Farm Sanctuary.”

A view of the fields and barns at Farm Sanctuary, NY.

The Interns

Baby calf Harold with interns.

For the duration of my internship, I shared a house with the six other interns. All of us were vegan and felt highly motivated about the work we were doing. This created a special bond between us. I've lived alone for years and so I must admit I had apprehensions not just about sharing a house, but also about sharing a bedroom with two other people for a month. I was pleasantly surprised; it was a great experience! These young people were lively, enthusiastic, and most importantly, good cooks—which resulted in our constant eating. They taught me that one can make wonderful French toast, pancakes, cakes, pies and cookies while adhering to vegan standards.

The animals

At the farm we had chickens, turkeys, geese, ducks, pigs, cows, goats, sheep and rabbits. All the animals had their own names and as we worked, we saw that they had individual personalities as well. I never learnt the names of all the chickens - I suspect there were at least 50 - 60 of them at the farm - but the caretakers could recognize each one, and could often tell you something about their history and personality. Many of them had been rescued from a large Ohio factory farm, which had been hit by a tornado. As the buildings collapsed, millions of birds, locked in their cages, were left to die without access to food and water. Farm Sanctuary representatives went there and rescued as many as they could, prying open the cages.

Mayfly and I.

My personal favourite was a rooster named Mayfly. He came there as the result of a classroom experiment where eggs were incubated and broken open, one each day, to show the children how the chick develops in the egg. At one point the teacher could not bring herself to kill any more chick embryos and allowed the last egg to hatch. Mayfly was the result. Whenever I would pass his barn, I'd call his name and he would come running and start talking. I could never resist picking him up and giving him a hug--he loved that!

Farmed chicken

Egglayers in a hen house.

Unfortunately, most chickens are not so lucky. What many of us do not know is there are two types of chickens that are raised, those for meat, and those for eggs. The chickens raised for meat are bred to grow quickly and develop a high body mass. They typically grow from chick to slaughter size in just 6 weeks, twice as fast as naturally-bred chickens would. Their breasts are so disproportionately heavy that they find it difficult to support their own weight. Once they reach maturity, it is not uncommon for them to die suddenly of a heart attack while running due to the excess weight.

With the egg laying variety, the male chicks are separated from their sisters and discarded. The egg industry has no incentive to keep them, as they are viewed as taking up space that they are not worth. Egg laying females are kept in wire cages a mere 20 inches wide, five to a cage, with no place to stretch their wings, move or even walk.

Male chicks in the trash. (Photo courtesy Farm Sanctuary)

To prevent them from pecking each other, their beaks are cut off without any anaesthesia soon after birth. The beak is a very sensitive part and many die as a result of this cruel procedure, but this is considered a natural loss by the industry. The claws on their feet are often cut off for the same reason, leaving their feet and legs deformed. They are also kept in the dark for most of their lives to reduce the aggression and to make them lay more eggs. These chickens have been bred to lay about 250 eggs a year, a tenfold increase from what they would produce in nature. As a result of the ensuing calcium depletion, their bones become brittle. When their egg production decreases, in about a year, they are taken to slaughter and used as chicken soup or pot pies, where their depleted bodies are ground or otherwise dismembered so that their bruises go unnoticed.

Farmed turkey

Turner and I.

Turkeys are also bred to grow to many times the size of a wild turkey, and have difficulty walking because they are so breast heavy. They are bred to have only white feathers because darker feathers leave spots on their skin, which consumers don't like.

During my internship, someone had rescued a box of baby turkeys and left them at Farm Sanctuary's doorstep. We watched these birds grow and observed the rapidity of their growth during our short stay. Unfortunately, few people ever get the chance to meet turkeys and learn what wonderful pets they can make.

The pigs

Like most people, I was surprised at the size of the pigs at the farm. The pigs grow to weigh 600 - 800 lbs. I had never seen pigs this size in India, but in the West, they are bred to grow bigger and faster. They are usually slaughtered at an age of six months, when they weigh about 250 lbs! Again, these animals have trouble supporting their weight. They can hardly walk and often suffer extremely painful arthritis and deformities in their limbs.

Pig showers.

As a result, they spend a lot of time lying in the hay. They love to pick up the hay and make their own beds. They never excrete in their sleeping area - they are extremely clean, friendly and have the IQ of a six-year-old child! They know their names and have their own best friends who they hang out with regularly. We had fun feeding the pigs treats - carrots, apples, and all kinds of fruit and vegetables. They would grunt in gratitude. Pigs need to roll in mud, because they do not perspire and so it is their only way to cool off. One day, when it was really hot, we gave the pigs the option of showers. The only hitch was they had to walk to the hose. Most of them didn't bother to get up but those who did had a ball!

Farmed pigs

Unfortunately, pigs too are abused in factory farms where sows are kept in gestation crates all their lives with no room to move. To the industry, they are just piglet producing machines. They are allowed to nurse their piglets while still confined for 2 weeks after which the piglets are torn from them to be fattened for slaughter. The sows are immediately impregnated to begin another 4-month cycle.

Pig factory.

Pigs normally form strong bonds with their young for two years, but because it is not profitable, they are deprived this natural bond by the industry. Many of these pigs raised in this captivity demonstrate extreme discomfort, but as long as they produce piglets, this goes ignored. When their bodies are worn out - which doesn't take long – they, too, are dragged to slaughter. At the time of their demise, they are often too weak to even walk. If allowed to live out their life, these animals can live up to twenty years.

Sheep and farmed sheep

Sheep at Farm Sanctuary.

The sheep at the farm were timid creatures. They always preferred to be in a group. When we entered the barn, they would run out in the field -- although they knew that we came to clean their barn every day. In nature, sheep shed their wool seasonally, but these sheep have been modified to produce so much wool that they cannot shed it themselves. As a result, they must be sheared by humans. This abundance of wool causes them to have folds in their skin, which are prone to abscesses. If unchecked, these abscesses can lead to death.

Goats and farmed goats

Jenny and Simon. (Photo courtesy Farm Sanctuary)

The goats on the other hand were a friendly lot - they would come up and let you pet them. They clearly enjoyed our attention. My favourite was Simon, a friendly potbellied pygmy goat, who loved to eat. Another favourite was Juniper - who was rescued in winter from a barn where he was left to die without food and warmth. Due to frostbite, he lost a limb, but he is now bravely walking with the help of his prosthesis. There is not a big market for sheep and goats in the US, so most of them are shipped to the Middle East or other countries. However, some are killed locally in Halal markets.

Ducks and Geese and foie gras

Samson and Delilah.

The ducks and geese were a crazy lot - loud and busy, but beautiful. Geese mate for life and so there were all kinds of love stories in their barns. Samson and Delilah were an inseparable pair of geese. Samson would fight with any goose that came close to Delilah so they had to be separated and had a private pool instead of the big pond to prevent too much drama. Another famous pair was a duck that was in love with a goose. These star-crossed lovers also had to be given their own private place. These birds are sometimes raised to produce foie gras, which literally means 'enlarged liver' in French. They are force fed two to three times their body weights daily by placing a tube in their stomachs, which causes their livers to enlarge.

Harold the calf

Harold and I.

By far, the highlight of the internship for me was Harold, a baby Jersey calf. He was rescued from a stockyard when he was just 2 days old by one of the Farm Sanctuary staff at the beginning of my second week. He was lying covered in his diarrhea and was being given electric shocks to try to make him stand. He was a ‘downer’ – an industry term used for those animals that cannot stand up. Since the BSE scare, these animals are exempted from being used for meat. He had been left to die a slow death from starvation or dehydration when he was rescued. He was thin and unwell when he came, so the staff decided to keep him in quarantine. I felt so sorry for him that I would sit and talk with him in my free time, just to give him company. With the help of medicines and a lot of love, he recovered and became a beautiful and lively young calf. I had the luck of spending a lot of time with him for his first three weeks and it was fascinating to see his little milestones - his first soft moo, his first attempt at eating grain, his first run, and his first introduction to the other calves who accepted him so lovingly even though he was a bit timid.

I was happy to see him run with joy when he was finally united with the other calves on the last day of my stay. I would feed him with a bottle and he would always crave for more - he could never have enough! I still miss Harold a lot. He looked like a little deer. He would often look out for me, and come running as I approached the barn. When I would leave he would keep staring quietly at me as if to say "can't you stay?"

Farmed cows and calves

These little calves are the by-products of the milk industry. Dairy cows are repeatedly impregnated since they produce milk only for their young (and not continuously as many people believe). They are bred to produce 10 times the normal amount of milk; even so, male calves are deprived of any milk since they are useless to the industry. Dairy cows are kept in small spaces in barns most of their lives, since it is more productive to milk them without letting them move around.

caption to come.

Most cows suffer mastitis due to their unusually large udders. This disease not only harms the animals, it harms anyone who attempts to live off their milk. The average glass of milk contains seven drops of pus! Antibiotics are a part of the feed of these cows, and are intended to prevent a fulminating infection. These drugs are also excreted in their milk along with large quantities of dioxins since there is no regulation on pesticides for animal feed. Still want milk?

Here is a picture of an organic dairy farm. It's a little bit different from what you would expect after seeing all the pictures of happy cows in the pastures. One of our lecturers went to visit a well-known organic dairy in the US, and immediately turned vegan from what she saw there.

Farmed cows and veal calves

Veal calf.

The male calves are sold often on the very day they are born to the veal industry. There, they are confined in crates so that their muscles do not develop. They are fed an iron deficient feed for six weeks in order to produce the tender white meat known as veal. In India, where veal is not so popular, these calves are torn from their mothers and tied outside the dairies to starve to death. This slow painful death takes about seven days.

Male calves starved to death outside a Mumbai dairy. (Photo courtesy Karuna, Andheri)

We were taken to a stockyard where we saw hundreds of newborn calves being sold. We were forbidden to take any photos there. It would not be a good advertisement for the industry. Most places would not allow visitors. It was heartbreaking to think that these helpless babies didn't have even one day to spend with their mothers. The mother cows suffer from intense grief and can often be heard crying for days.

One of the rescued cows at Farm Sanctuary, who gave birth there, rejected her calf, Robin, when she was born. We thought that it was probably because she had been deprived of so many calves that she didn't want to get attached. In a span of a week, once she saw that her calf was not taken away from her, she began to care for her in the most loving way.

So what about the cows that we do see in the fields? These are beef cattle. As with chicken, there are cows that are bred for milk, and cows bred for beef. The beef cows are bred to grow extra fast and fat for slaughter. They are fed various hormones and growth enhancers to quicken the process. Their last feed before they are sent to slaughter is a different feed called finishing feed. It contains cement dust and such, to increase their weight, as they will not have to digest it anyway. Those extra pounds give the broker a few dollars more.

Rabbits and more

Did I forget the rabbits? I'll leave it to you to go there and find out more about them. Most of the days we interns had to clean the barns in Farm Sanctuary and this was great because we had direct contact with the animals and got to know them. Some days we worked in the administration office. One of our assignments there was data entry of slaughterhouse records so that Farm Sanctuary could assess them. It was appalling to see the high percentage of animals with terrible diseases ranging from mastitis to cancer that were used as human food.

Effect of factory farming on our environment

Animal bones in manure pools.

How does all this affect the environment and our health? First of all, 12- 16 lbs of grain (that humans could eat) gives only 1 pound of meat on the average. Forests are cleared to make way for grazing grounds sending other species to extinction. Animals need a lot of water and produce large quantities of excreta. In fact, many factory farm businesses in the USA are quick money-making operations. Owners know they cannot be in the business for long because the manure accumulates and the neighbors complain about the smell. High levels of methane gases in the environment increase the incidence of respiratory diseases. An investigator from Farm Sanctuary took photos of the deep pools of excreta at an abandoned farm. He noticed cattle skeletons in the manure. He suspected that the cows were left to die in their own manure when the owners had made their money and fled to a tax free zone. Slaughterhouses, too, add to the pollution of water used to clean out the streams of blood and other visceral parts.

A plant-based diet is not just healthy; it is good for the environment and animals too.

Some reading suggestions

Diet for a new America - John Robbins
Food Revolution - John Robbins
Natural Hygiene, the Pristine Way of Life - Rupert Sheldon
Fast Food Nation - Eric Schlosser (This is a general interest book on food culture in the US)
The China Study – T. Colin Campbell
Eat to Live - Dr Joel Fuhrman

A sanctuary for abused farmed animals in India

I left Farm sanctuary with more enthusiasm than ever to start my own sanctuary in India. Conditions for farmed animals in India are a little different. The situation with the chickens, however, is very similar, and rural India is now dotted with "poultries" - factory farms for chicken. Most of our other animals are not as selectively bred as in the US - but they face other forms of abuse. Many cattle, goats, and pigs are left to fend for themselves for food, and often end up eating garbage and plastic bags on the street. Most animals are slaughtered in front of each other with no stunning. Many animals are tied outside in the hot sun for hours without water. Bullocks and horses often collapse of exhaustion, as a result of carrying their loads on hot summer days without food and water. Baby male calves are frequently left to die of starvation. Their carcasses are picked up and used by the Kora Kendra (an institute which makes leather goods only out of leather from animals that have died natural deaths for those who are averse to killing) to be used as ahimsic leather. Do we really need this harvest of shame? Is our own pain any more significant than that of other species?

Turning from vegetarian to vegan is just one small humane step

Some vegetarians who would like to go vegan worry about where they would get their protein and calcium. Soy is one answer, but the truth is we do not need as much protein and calcium as most people typically think. Every single cell contains protein and calcium - some plants have more than others. In a testament to the muscle-building capacity of plants, cows who produce protein and calcium rich milk get these from grass alone. All the Asian countries besides the Indian subcontinent traditionally never had a dairy industry, nor did they use milk. Even Sri Lanka, our neighbor, does not have a history of a dairy industry. For centuries, children were brought up in these countries without milk in their diets. Coconut milk is a wonderful and tasty substitute for many dishes, easy to make and readily available in India. Soy, almond, peanut, sesame and cashew nut milk as well as rice and oat milk and combinations are other possibilities. If my friends at Farm Sanctuary and the staff there who have been brought up on meat can be strict vegans, it should not be so difficult for vegetarians in India, including Jains, especially considering our heritage of ahimsic ideals.

Dr Nandita Shah