We all could use more knowledge. So many of us have gotten away from our agricultural ancestors' way of life that today we have little understanding of agriculture.
Years ago, whenever someone that lived in the country wanted to erect a building to put his livestock in, he built the building. Today, once he decides to do this, he has to go through numerous regulations in order to accomplish this. Engineering plans have to be submitted to the State of Indiana. The Indiana Department of Environmental Management then checks to verify if this venture meets all of the state’s requirements as to soil and testing, drainage, air quality and many other tests. These tests are to verify that what is being built is not a detriment to you and me.
Once this is verified and the facility built, animals are placed in the building. At this point the Indiana Board of Animal Health takes over the protection of the animals. Periodic checks by state veterinarians are made of these animals on all farms raising livestock to verify that you and I are eating some of the safest food produced in the world.
Putting livestock in a building is now considered a “factory farm.” To simplify things, livestock raised in a building is now called a Confined Animal Facility Operation. So if you see a sign that says “CAFO,” don’t think that this is bad – it’s just a farmer putting his animals in a building. A building where he can control their environment. (We use to raise hogs and our barns were cool in the summer and warm in the winter. Nutritional food was supplied along with an abundant water supply. We wanted our animals healthy, because healthy animals do good, grow correctly, and raising and selling food – pork – was our income.)
Webster defines “factory” as a building where items are made. So, we’ve had factory farms forever – food is made on the farm. For the safety of their animals, settlers setting up a homestead usually built a building (barns) for their livestock even before they constructed their own home. They could live in a tent, but their animals had to be protected, because without their livestock the settlers could not survive.
