English Resource Booklet 2 - Animal Aid

Lesson 7: Dramatic EventsResource 25continuedLocal greengrocer• You run a local family business, which has been established for years.• You are finding it increasingly difficult to compete with the supermarkets.• You think that too many people would rather drive to a supermarket that sells everything they want,even though the fruit and vegetables are often more expensive than yours.• The rent on your shop is quite high.• You aim to supply local food to local people.• You try to keep a good range of produce in store but some of it has to come from abroad.Pig farmer (intensive)• The supermarkets will only buy from competitively priced suppliers, so you have to keep costs down.• It makes financial sense to rear your animals intensively inside sheds. Outside, they would waste toomuch energy running around.• You have to pay for lots of antibiotics, as the animals are often ill because of overcrowding and stress.• You think that most people don’t mind how their food is produced as long as it’s cheap.Pig farmer (free-range)• Your meat is more expensive because it is free-range and organic.• You believe in better welfare standards for your animals – your animals have access to fresh air and aregiven more space to move around.• You fatten your pigs with feed that has been grown without the use of pesticides.• Some people are prepared to pay a higher price for your ‘premium’ meat.• You have tried selling your meat to supermarkets, but they tell you that not enough customers will paythe higher price.Dairy farmer• You provide milk sold in supermarkets and shops across the country.• Your cows are milked twice a day.• The cows are constantly either pregnant or lactating in order to keep their milk supply going.• You take the calves away from their mothers when they are just a day or two old. This is so that youcan supply their milk to the shops.• The price of milk has fallen. Therefore you have to supply more to earn the same amount of money.As a result, the yield from each cow is steadily increasing which leads to the animals suffering infectionsand lameness. This puts up the veterinary drugs bill.Slaughterhouse worker• You work in an abattoir where animals are killed and processed into meat products.• It is unpleasant work but you have become accustomed to it.• The abattoir is a modern, highly mechanised plant that tries to operate just like any other factoryproduction line.• The plant typically kills around five pigs or sheep per minute.• At these speeds you don’t have time to pay too much attention to animal welfare.50