The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently announced its Rural Veterinarian Action Plan, which intends to address the nation’s shortage of rural “food animal veterinarians.” The plan, which was introduced by U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins, focuses on the agricultural economy and the needs of farmers and ranchers, stating, “Animal health threats, foodborne illnesses, and increasingly complex trade barriers underscore the need for highly qualified food animal veterinarians.”

While veterinarians are incredibly important to the wellbeing of farm animals, and we support new grants to fund veterinary education and job security, one major element is missing from the USDA’s plan: animal welfare. In fact, the words “farm animal” never appear in the plan at all, which instead uses the term “food animal” or “production animal.” The linguistic choice to use these industrial terms reveals that our current USDA does not see farm animals as sentient beings, but merely as products to be bought and traded. Describing animals as objects rather than living beings encourages an environment where animals’ needs are neglected, which in part, leads to the deplorable conditions on factory farms. It is paramount that farm animals’ physical, social, mental, and emotional needs be taken into account when creating guidelines for care, keeping, and veterinary regulations.

In the United States, 99% of farm animals, amounting to billions of animals, are raised on factory farms. The living conditions on factory farms are abhorrent. Animals live in cages and pens that are so small and restraining, they often cannot even fully turn around, lie down, or spread their wings or limbs completely. Some animals are forced to live completely solitary lives, where bars prevent them from ever interacting with their family or peers. Other animals, such as chickens, are often crammed into overcrowded rooms where they are so tightly packed together that the animals have no personal space and sometimes trample each other. Animals on factory farms will likely never see the outdoors or receive any form of enrichment or mental stimulation. Their bodies are given what they need to become the meat or dairy that they were bred to produce, but little to no care is given to the animals’ mental, emotional, or physical wellbeing.

FOUR PAWS has supported extreme confinement bans in the United States, contributing to important victories for farm animals in states such as New Jersey, Arizona, Michigan, Colorado, Kentucky, California, Massachusetts, and more. We continue to fight for animals on the Federal level as a member of the Defeat Eats Act coalition, which is working to preserve the right of states to make decisions about farm animal regulation and welfare within their own borders. Learn more here.

In order to improve the lives of farm animals, we support the Five Domains Model, which aims to provide animals with: good nutrition, good environment, good health, appropriate behavior, and positive mental experiences. This model builds upon the Five Freedoms, which recognizes that animals should be given freedom from the negative experiences of hunger and thirst, pain, discomfort, disease, and fear. The Five Domains model expands on these qualifications with the intention of not only preventing negative experiences, but also building positive experiences for animals.

While the Rural Veterinarian Action Plan mentions the importance of preventing “transmission of animal disease (and) protecting our food supply,” it does not acknowledge the role poor animal welfare plays in spreading disease. The extreme overcrowding and confinement found on factory farms fuels the risk of infectious disease outbreaks, since these cruel conditions create an environment where pathogens can easily spread, amplify, and mutate. According to the World Health Organization, antibiotic resistance is one of the most critical global threats to public health, and animal agriculture plays a significant role. On the positive side, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) notes that adhering to strong animal welfare standards can help to reduce the development and spread of antimicrobial resistance.   

The diseases that emerge on factory farms not only pose a threat to animals, but also to humans. Zoonoses — diseases that spread between animals and humans — account for roughly 60% of all infections in humans and 75% of all emerging infectious diseases. They are responsible for around 2.5 billion cases of human illness and approximately 2.7 million human deaths each year.

While rural veterinarians do the best that they can to care for farm animals on factory farms, it is a huge challenge to prevent the spread of illness when the animals’ living conditions are the perfect breeding ground for infectious diseases. Our government can support rural veterinarians and public health by creating better animal welfare standards for farm animals. It is the right thing to do for the wellbeing of farm animals, while also enabling rural veterinarians to better care for the animals they have devoted their lives to protecting.