- Animals are given antibiotics to mitigate the effect of infectious disease. The dense packing of animals makes it easy for pathogens to spread from host to host, so antibiotics are essential to prevent epidemics.
- Animals are selectively bred to be fast-growing , and they are slaughtered before growth stops in adulthood, so the farmer doesn’t waste any food, and earns profit early.
- When animals are reared outdoors their pasture is fertilised to improve the quantity and quality of grazing. This increases the animals’ energy intake at little cost.
These interventions all cost money, and indeed intensive farming depends on high levels of inputs to achieve high productivity.
But the gains in productivity should exceed the costs of the inputs.
Factory farms produce large amounts of animal waste, which often pollute surrounding water ways.
Factory farming also raises many ethical questions about the welfare of the animals.
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