I would like to ask you a question. Do you think animals can also experience such feelings as pain and fear, or know what extreme heat and extreme cold are? Unless, of course, you are an alien from Mars, then you must answer yes, right? Actually you are wrong.
According to the European Union (the body that sets a lot of rules on how animals should be treated in the UK), farm animals should be treated the same as a CD player. They believe that animals are nothing more than a commodity, and no one will worry about them.
During the Second World War in Britain and Europe there was not enough food even for everyone to get enough food. Products were distributed in standardized portions. When the war ended in 1945, farmers in Britain and elsewhere had to produce as much food as possible so that there was never a shortage again. In those days there were almost no rules and regulations. In an effort to grow as much food as possible, farmers used large amounts of soil fertilizers and pesticides to control weeds and insects. Even with the help of pesticides and fertilizers, farmers could not grow enough grass and hay to feed the animals; thus they began to introduce feeds such as wheat, corn and barley, most of which were imported from other countries.
They also added chemicals to their food to control disease because many well-nourished animals grew up with viral diseases. Animals could no longer roam freely in the field, they were kept in cramped cages, so it was easier to choose those animals that grow faster or have a large meat mass. So-called selective breeding came into practice.
The animals were fed with food concentrates, which promoted rapid growth. These concentrates were made from dried ground fish or pieces of meat from other animals. Sometimes it was even the meat of animals of the same species: chickens were fed chicken meat, cows were fed beef. All this was done so that even waste was not wasted. Over time, new methods have been found to accelerate the growth of animals, because the faster the animal grows and the larger its mass, the more money can be made by selling meat.
Instead of farmers working the land to earn a living, the food industry has become big business. Many farmers have become major producers in which commercial companies invest large sums of money. Of course, they expect to get even more money back. Thus, farming has become an industry in which profit is much more important than how animals are treated. This is what is now called “agribusiness” and is now gaining momentum in the UK and elsewhere in Europe.
The stronger the meat industry becomes, the less government attempts to control it. Large sums of money were invested in industry, money was spent on the purchase of equipment and automation of production. Thus, British farming has reached the level it is today, a large industry that employs fewer workers per acre of land than any other country in the world.
Before World War II, meat was considered a luxury, people ate meat once a week or on holidays. Producers now raise so many animals that many people eat meat every day in one form or another: bacon or sausages, burgers or ham sandwiches, sometimes it can even be cookies or cake made from animal fat.