Facts and Figures
Welcome to my facts and figures page; where you can find out some of the interesting things about factory farming and the shocking figures that highlight the desperate need for change.
Facts about farming
- Global meat production has quadrupled since the early 1960s from 71 million tonnes to over 290 million tonnes in 2010 (FAO).
- Two out of every three farm animals in the world are now factory farmed.
- There are more animals factory farmed in the world now than at any other time in history.
- Worldwide, about 70 billion farm animals are now reared for food each year.
Chickens and hens
- There are over 35 million laying hens currently producing eggs in the UK; around half of these are kept in non-cage systems.
- Commercial laying hens in the UK are slaughtered after only 12 months of laying, when their productivity begins to decline. Their ancestors – the jungle fowl – naturally live for around 10 years.
- Factory farmed chickens are bred to reach a weight of 2.2 kilograms in just five weeks; this is well beyond their natural limits and causes great suffering.
- A typical stocking density in the UK and Europe for broiler chickens is equivalent to around 17–20 birds per square metre as they approach slaughter weight, i.e. a space allowance of less than one A4 sheet of paper per chicken.
- A typical supermarket chicken today contains more than twice the fat, and about a third less protein than 40 years ago.
- A chicken shed holding 100,000 broiler chickens for meat can emit up to 77 kilos of polluting dust every day.
- About two-thirds of chickens on sale in the UK have been found to be contaminated with the food poisoning bug, campylobacter.
- In 2011 the UK slaughtered around 850 million broiler chickens, resulting in around 1.5 million tonnes of chicken meat. The average poultry meat consumption in the UK is 31kg per person per year, with a total consumption of around 1.9 million tonnes (2010).
Cows for meat and dairy
- There are over 260 million cows used to produce milk in the world, including 24 million in the EU27, nine million in the USA and around two million in the UK.
- A kilogram of beef takes the equivalent of 90 bathtubs of water to produce.
- Whereas a suckler cow would naturally produce around 4 litres of milk per day, a dairy cow will produce around 24 litres per day on average for a period of 10 months.
- Dairy cows typically live to only their third or fourth lactation before being culled. Naturally, a cow can live for 20 years.
- In order to continue to produce milk, dairy cows give birth to a calf every year and will typically become pregnant again three months after calving.
Pigs
- Piglets born into factory farms often have their tails docked and their teeth clipped, usually without any form of anaesthesia.
- A gestation crate – or sow stall – confines a sow during her 114 day pregnancy. It is so small that she cannot even turn around. Sow stalls are illegal in the UK and their use will be restricted to the first 4 weeks of pregnancy in the EU from 2013.
Other animals
- More than 326 million rabbits are farmed for food in the EU every year, with the majority being kept in cramped barren battery cages.
- For the production of foie gras, force-feeding geese increases the size of the liver by up to ten times and the fat content of the liver exceeds 50%.
Don’t forget the fish
- Worldwide, aquaculture production is growing at an average rate of 6% per year, whilst capture fisheries production has remained static for the past decade. Half of all fish directly consumed by humans is now farmed.
- Mortality rates of farmed fish are often very high compared with other farmed animals. For example, mortality of salmon reared in sea cages in Scotland is around 18%. Such high mortality rates would not be considered acceptable in other branches of farming.
- Growth-enhanced transgenic Atlantic salmon have been produced that can grow 3-6 times faster than ordinary salmon.
- Atlantic salmon and rainbow trout are often starved for several days, sometimes for two weeks or more, before slaughter to empty the gut. Such prolonged periods of starvation are unacceptable from a welfare viewpoint. Starvation or feed reduction is also sometimes used to adapt production levels to the market situation. The purpose is to keep the fish off the market when market prices are low in the hope that prices will rise before the fish have to be sold.
Impacts on the environment, health and food security
- Livestock consume a third of the global grain harvest.
- Globally, the current livestock industry overall contributes 18 per cent of human-produced greenhouse gas emissions – more than the entire contribution of human transport.
- Every year, an area of forest equivalent to half the UK is cleared, much of it to grow animal feed and for cattle ranching.
- An area of land equivalent to the size of the European Union is used to grow feed for farm animals.
- Farm animals are more prone to campylobacter infection when stressed.
- Overuse of antibiotics in animals is causing more strains of drug-resistant bacteria, with potentially devastating consequences for the treatment of various life-threatening diseases in humans.
- Over 70% of globally threatened wild birds are said to be impacted by agricultural activities.
- Around 30% of the nitrogen that pollutes water in the EU and US is from livestock, more than 70% in China.
- On average, to produce 1kg of animal protein requires nearly 6kg of protein in the form of feed grains.
(Last updated May 2012)
Most of these facts scare me to death. Factory farming needs to be abolished, and as quickly as possible!
We were doing some browsing and came across this website. Must say that this info is what I was searching for! Keep writing more. We will be following your sites
I am very curious about one of the facts listed, namely that a typical supermarket chicken has 3 x more fat and 1/3 less protein. Can you direct me to the relevant research please.
Of course, this reference is in our 2009 Beyond Factory Farming full report – page 54, section 9.3 ‘Food quality and nutrition’, second column, second paragraph!
The reference was taken from ‘Wang, Y Q et al, 2005. Changes in protein and fat balance of some primary foods: implications for obesity. Presented at the 6th Congress of the International Society for the Study of Fatty Acids and Lipids. 27 June – July 2004, Brighton.’
‘Worldwide, about 60 billion farm animals are now slaughtered for food each year.’
The fact is so shocking and sad it’s almost unbelieveable.
Thanks ciwf for great resources, articles and for all the work you have done!
We definitely need to change our feeding habits, plus somehow control human population increase, it’s like we are being factory farmed!
Jorge Dominguez (Mexico)
I got tired of the terrifying conditions under which chickens live in factories. My wife and I raise our own chickens now using a combination of age old techniques and a few modern technologies. There is no comparison of the results with the terrible product sold in the store. It’s not even possible to cook home raised chickens using the same approach. The meat is denser and more flavorful. The skin is thicker and it most certainly isn’t gray. We eat far less chicken at any given meal now and are completely satisfied because of the quality difference (I’ve lost a considerable amount of weight without dieting because of the change in our lifestyle.) There is almost no fat to be found on home raised chicken. You can follow my self-sufficiency techniques on my blog http://blog.johnmuellerbooks.com/.
OK, but get ready to pay more for your food.
The mass market, not the 4% organic, demands and expects cheap food.
The Arab Spring is one result of increasing food prices. And where does China want it’s food from?
Use all the tools in the box – GM, clever sustainable intensive farming etc.
Nice post. Thanks for sharing.
we should expect to pay a little more for meay but if cheap meats are not on the shelves we wouldnt know any difference , perhaps people would use all the bird /meat instead of wasteing it, we live in a throw away society , it as to stop
Thank you so much for doing what you are doing! I’m writing a project on intensive farming and not only is this a vertiable treasure trove of infomation that I have been trying to find for weeks, it’s also really brilliant to finally see evidence of people caring about animals! You guys are fantastic, keeo bringing awareness to people!!
WOW! Shocking figures! I competley believe in free range food and have found this blog really helpful!
Traditionally we have always had thrifty, hardy breeds. To a meat eater the traditional breeds produce tasty meat. My sheep lamb out doors and produce hardy lambs with ample brown fat to keep them warm. Ewes have extra long wool down the front of them and face the cold wind, even in a blizzard, to keep warm. Manx and Scottish West Coast breeds have resistance to fly strike. Compare this to modern breeds, poor things, often shear size brings about problems resulting in great discomfort! Have kept some modern breeds, VERY hard work, keeping them fit, fed and well cared for is time consuming.
Lent my Portland ram to an Australian farmer, living in UK, who put him on Suffolk ewes. The resulting lambs were hardier, did not have the foot problems that their mothers suffered. The farmer was delighted with the easy care, quality of lambs and I was very happy to get a convert! Have been looking to convert the farming industry to traditional breeds and stockmanship, even shown my animals in order to prove quality is in tradition. Had a ram that beat the Great Yorkshire Champion at a major agricultural show in 1997! Was delighted, didn’t go down to well with the commercial sheep owners!
Delighted to be able to keep my animals as they were kept when I was a child living on a farm with Land Army girls. Please speak up for tradition – it works! Thank you very much for taking time to read my comment – nearly an essay! ;0)
Where was this information gathered from? is it official?
Stop factory farming as it’s inhumane and very cruel.
To Rob Yorke,
A big part of the solution can also be people changing from the mindset of eating meat. As the last figure states, “On average, to produce 1kg of animal protein requires nearly 6kg of protein in the form of feed grains.” If that 1kg of animal protein can be given up, we can redirect the protein used to produce it to feed the hungry.
[...] figures are taken from the blog of Philip Lymbery, Chief Executive of Compassion in World [...]
The facts are interesting and most likely factual. However, it would be much more credible if you provided your resources for your readers. I would have liked to have used your facts for a research paper I am writing, but cannot without those references. Please add them.
It’s all very well to say “factory farming is cruel and inhumane” “it must be stopped” however factory farming IS necessary. You don’t need to look at pages of research to see that our population is rapidly growing and we need cheap and fast ways of producing meat and dairy to sustain our population.
“if cheap meats are not on the shelves we wouldnt know any difference” You personally might not see the difference but millions of people would. If people can afford free- range then by all means they should buy it, but keep in mind that not EVERYONE can afford this.
Why do people assume free-range farms are all that different? Free range or not the chickens come from the same hatcheries and eventually end up in the same slaughter house. Free range farms have a wider profit margin as they produce less produce, they are looking to make the most money by the cheapest methods. It may also interest you to know that big corporation factory farms have better in house veterinary care.
The definition of free range simply means the poultry has been allowed access to the outside. this does not necessarily mean they have access to better nutrition and happier lives, and the worst things you can do for these animals is to convince yourself they live in pastures and big fields. Untill you have seen the condition these free range animals are kept in, don’t assume they’re any better off. If you are that sickened by factory farming then don’t even consider free range as its only a small step up. Find a local farmer and buy directly from that farm once you have seen the conditions are to your standard.
Amy, No , Factory farming is not necessary when we have plenty to eat. We can eat heaps of food that is a lot healthier than meat. I am vegetarian now to help the animals. Go vegan or Vegetarian and you will feel better.