Intensive housing and its effects on farm animals

Abstract

lntensive animal production is not a new idea. lt is true that historically the rearing of domestic animals for food has been an extensive rather than an intensive practice but this is a generalisation. Whenever, and wherever a population has grown fast enough, large enough and affluent enough, intensive animal production has developed sirnultaneously lo satisfy the demand for meat. For example orca 37 BC the pstio villotica bred edible snails and fieldfares or reared dormice in jan to satisfy Rome's growing demand for luxury items for the epicurcs' tables (White, 1970)In the late lSth century, large scate fattening of pigs and cattle fed on distillen' wash and housed in close confinement in sophisticated buildings provided meat for the hungry nrasses of the rapidly expanding metropolis of London (Lliddleton, I 798). Today intensive animal production is characterised by an increasc in capital investment per animal in housing and equipment, a rcduction in labour usage per animal. an increase in the nutrient intake per animal to achieve a high rate of output, and a standardisation of the final product (Blaxter, 1967). Intensive animal production units tend to be larger and more concentrated in their use of land than traditional farm enterprises and it has been suggested (Cunha, 1967) that they demand a higher level of ability, management skill and technical knowledge. This may well be so, for the neasure of their success is an economic one and this is often the only criteria on which they are judged (Junge 1967). As a result, at any time, the economic situation will dictate that intensive animd production units must continually strive to maximise the overall efliciency with which they convert the basic resourees of feed. labour and capital into saleable products. lntensive housing is only a part of intensive animal production yet its development tends to reflect the continuous struggle to reduce the costs of production by reducing investrnent and improving working conditions inside the building. Simultaneously, housing must continue to aid the improvement of biological perforrirance by creating an environment conduciw to optimal conversion of feed into meat. The dramatic increase in building costs over the last few years from approxirnately tQ9o in 1970 to afmost 25eoin 1974, has resulted in a greater effort to reduce capital expenditure generally by concentrating on either or both of the following factors: