Hello!
Answer the quesions about hens (lecția „The dream and the reality”)
Răspundeți la întrebările privind viața găinilor („Între vis și realitate”)
______
Răspuns:
1. Where were hens kept in the past?
In the past, hens were kept in the open farmyard during the day and at night they were put in hen houses.
2. Where are they kept now?
Now, hens are locked up for twenty-four hours a day in wire cages or hen batteries.
3. What were the advantages of old sysem?
The advantages of the old system are that hens were allowed to walk around freely and they were given space to scratch and stretch their wings.
4. What are the advantages of the present system?
The advantages of the present system are that battery cages are very clean and hygienic and hens are warm and safe from the predators like foxes.
______
Explicații:
Lecția: Farming today - the dream and the reality
For many people, the idea of a perfect farm is the one you often see on television commercials. These show fields of corn, one o two cows and sheep happly grazing, chickens scratching in the farmyard. The really of modern farming in very different in many countries.
Small farms do stil exist, but the demand for cheap food has forced many farmers in Britain to use intensive methods of farming. Animal like calves, pigs and chickens are treated as if they were on production line in a facktory, and so term factory farming is now widely used.
One example of factory farming is the battery hen system.In the past, hens were kept in the open farmyard duryng the day. They were allowed to walk around freely and were given space to scratch and to stretch their winds.At night they were put in hen houses.
Today, most hens in Britain are locked up for twenty-four hours a day in wire cages or batteries, 50 cm by 50 cm, with sloping floors. Five hens are put in one cage and up to six cages are stacked on top of each other. Thousands of hens are kept like this in one building. There over thirty-three milon battery hens in Britain.
Of corse, battery cages are very clean and hygienic. The hens are warm and safe from ptedators like foxes, but they are kept in a very small space. They can't flap their wings or clean their feathers properly. The wire floors are sharp, so the hens feet are the often damaged and their clows are broken. There is nowhere quiet for broken. There is no straw for them to scratch or peck, so they peck at others hens instead and sometimes all their fathers drop out.
Most people prefer the idea - and the taste - of free-range meat from animals which are allowed to move around outside. They also prefer organic products which are grown without pesticides or fertilizers. The trouble is that food produced in these ways is expensive. If people want cheap food, factory farming will probably continue.
