UK has more than 1,000 livestock mega-farms, investigation reveals

theguardian.com:

There are more than 1,000 US-style mega-farms in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, including some holding as many as a million animals, according to a new investigation.

In the US, mega-farms are defined as those that hold more than 125,000 birds reared for meat, or 82,000 egg-laying hens, 2,500 pigs, 700 dairy cows or 1,000 beef cattle. These are labelled by US officials as a concentrated animal feedlot system (CAFO).

By 2021, the number of farms in the UK that met the US definition of a CAFO, or mega-farm, was 1,099, according to research. This figure is known to be an underestimate owing to the omission of Scottish data, which was unavailable because of a cyber-attack in 2020.

What is a mega-farm?

There is no legal definition in the UK of a mega-farm. The Environment Agency, and its regional counterparts, classify livestock farms as «intensive» if they have hold at least 40,000 poultry or 2,000 pigs or 750 breeding sows. In the US, larger concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) are defined as those housing 125,000 broiler chickens, 82,000 laying hens, 2,500 pigs or 700 dairy or 1,000 beef cattle. There are now 1,099 mega-farms of this size in the UK.

Why are they controversial?

Mega-farms and intensive farms are controversial because they require keeping tens of thousands of animals in a small space, which campaigners and independent experts say can hamper their ability to express natural behaviours, such as moving naturally and nesting. The animals are often kept indoors throughout their lives, though on some farms they are allowed access to outdoor areas at least part of the time. There are also concerns that animals on mega farms may be over-medicated with antibiotics, as if one gets sick the whole herd is