15. Farm Animal Breeding—The Implications of Existing and New Technologies

For centuries, humans have bred animals for a variety of purposes. Farm animals have been selectively bred for maximum productivity. However, research shows that many types of farm animals, including poultry, are now suffering ill-health and poor levels of welfare due to these high levels of productivity. High-yielding dairy cows and fast-growing meat chickens are all affected. These animals can no longer survive to a natural lifespan. Such breeds are unsuited to farming in developing countries and more robust and native breeds should be used. Methods such as cloning, which is likely to be used to replicate large numbers of these same high-yielding animals and which may involve wastage of life and considerable animal suffering in its development stages, should be avoided.