The Benefits of the Ethical Treatment of Livestock Outweigh the Disadvantages

Thanks Pro.I. PrefaceI will build on my existing contentions before rebutting my opponent. Most my positive arguments are going to be economical, since that is the principle reason for treating animals ‘immorally’ in food production.II. ‘Immoral’ Farms are more competitiveAs it stands in the US, only four companies produce 81% of beef, 60% of pork, and 50% of chicken. Moreover, over 80% of the pork is produced in intensive animal settings. [1] Further, the cost of products produced by such methods are significantly cheaper than those produced by more traditional methods. For example, organic meat producers themselves confirm that organic meat is substantially more expensive than ‘regular’ meat.[2] For example a $1.29 free range chicken from whole food compares to $0.99 chickens from Sainsbury’s, most margins are larger than this. Within Sainsbury’s itself, basic free range 500g packs of drumsticks & legs are £3.50 and £2.80 respectively, which compares with £3.11 and 2.36 respectively for >1kg of their factory farmed counterparts. [3]Economies of scale clearly show that concentrated, dedicated large scale production leads to lower product costs and to fewer required staff.[4]III. We have mouths to feedOur population as it stands is 7 billion (below), with every indication that it will continue to expand at an exceptional rate. Studies indicate that the Earth’s ‘ideal’ population is less than 1 billion, clearly a sign we have expanded beyond naïve sustainability. Therefore, one of the limiting factors in human well-being is the availability of resources and hence the costs of their essentials. With the population projected to continue growing, then it follows that intensive animal farming is going to become more and more necessary to keep our population fed (below). [5] Specific AdvantagesThe intensive farming setting also reduces food turnaround times, poultry chickens which used to take several months to bring to rear now only take 5-6 weeks to be of age of slaughter. This reduces lag times in the pipeline, as well as less storage and more demand-adaptive production possible.The use of antibiotics is used to increase the size of the cattle produced, and clearly shows a demonstrable increase in maximal growth size (since it kills bacteria in their guts) and hence production profits (below).[6,7]The debeaking of chickens for example prevents in-flock fighting and cannibalism, and hence overall profits.[8]RebuttalsPro spends a lot of time talking about antibiotic use. Yet it is unclear how exactly the use of them is 'immoral' in any sense, as they dont evidently cause much additional discomfort to the livestock. Moreover it is unclear how much of an impact it is having, as Pro provided no figures.SImilarly the factory slaughter of chickens and cattle provides an unclear benefit, and it it is unclear now many of the cases of food poisoning are actually due to the manner in chick they were slaughtered.References:1. http://books.google.co.uk...2. http://thebillfold.com...3. http://www.mysupermarket.co.uk...4. http://en.wikipedia.org...5. "State of the World 2006," Worldwatch Institute, p. 266. http://www.thebeefsite.com...7. http://bovidiva.com...8. http://en.wikipedia.org...