I came across a website and had to share. The Reality of Feed at Animal Factories
When many Americans think of farm animals, they picture cattle munching grass on rolling pastures, chickens pecking on the ground outside of picturesque red barns, and pigs gobbling down food at the trough... Many people are surprised to find that most of the food animals in the United States are no longer raised on farms at all...
Over the last 50 years, the way food animals are raised and fed has changed dramatically—to the detriment of both animals and humans. Many people are surprised to find that most of the food animals in the United States are no longer raised on farms at all. Instead they come from crowded animal factories, also known as large confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs).
Just like other factories, animal factories are constantly searching for ways to shave their costs. To save money, they've redefined what constitutes animal feed, with little consideration of what is best for the animals or for human health. As a result, many of the ingredients used in feed these days are not the kind of food the animals are designed by nature to eat.
- Same Species Meat
- Diseased Animals
- Feathers, Hair, Skin, Hooves, and Blood
- Manure and Other Animal Waste
- Plastics
- Drugs and Chemicals
- Unhealthy Amounts of Grains
It takes 16 #'s of grain and 5,000 Gallons of water for each pound of beef.
More than half of all water used in the U.S. is used to raise animals for food. A totally vegetarian diet requires 300 gallons of water per day, while a meat-eating diet requires more than 4,000 gallons of water per day.
Factory farms demand more water than all other users combined and produce 130 times as much waste as the entire human population of the United States.
You shouldn’t have to lie to your kids about the food you eat. Children would be horrified to learn about the cruelty and violence involved in turning chickens, pigs, and other animals into nuggets and other “foods.”
In every package of chicken, there’s a little poop. A USDA study found that 98 percent of broiler chicken carcasses had detectable levels of E. coli, indicating fecal contamination.
Eating meat and dairy products makes you fat. As a nation, we’re getting fatter, and the Atkins diet has only made matters worse because it only works in the short term. Only 2 percent of pure vegetarians are obese, which is about one-ninth the figure for meat-eating Americans.
Hungry? Check out these awesome links for some great vegan recipes.
http://www.compassionatecooks.com/, http://veganlunchbox.blogspot.com/
http://www.fatfreevegan.com/, What the hell does a vegan eat anyway?
