I sure hope that the Oprah show can get Upton Sinclair, author of The Jungle to be one of the people on the show to express his view of the issues.

First of all, a big thank you to Oprah and Lisa. They try to bring the truth to the people, as hard as it may be to know or to watch. Who else does a full one hour show on mainstream about puppy mills or factory farms???

I'm 36 years old, a teacher, and a father. I explain to my kids about the life of these animals on the factory farms and they "get it". "It just ain't right." Imagine yourself locked in a cage for the better part of your life and you can't even move front or back. How can anyone possible justify that? Many of our greatest heros were peaceful eaters. How can you argue with Einstein? or Coretta Scott King? or Deepak Chopra? Heck even Lisa Simpson "got it"!

Anyway, i sure as heck wouldn't want any other person or animals to go through "lifelong confinement" just so i can have a couple burgers on my lunch hour. The way i see it, its all of our problem. The consumers, the producers, and the people that allow it to happen (the government). What kind of leadership says: "It's okay to have animals suffer undescribable pain". We're all in this together, and i sincerely hope, this genre of "factory farms" comes to an end as soon as possible, after everyone realizes, like most children do - "it just ain't right."

Thanks again Oprah for being a pioneer in getting the most relevent and truly important stories to us.

I cannot tell you how grateful I am that the Oprah show is covering this! Like the puppy mill show, this will CHANGE THE WAY WE TREAT ANIMALS! There are numerous atrocities happening in factory farms all over the world right this minute and it's time we stand up for the animals that cannot speak for themselves and change the way business is done!!

I will be disappointed if this show doesn't portray agriculture accurately. I have a neighbor who farms and he goes to great lengths to care for and protect his animals. He has missed many of his kids ball games because he had a sow (female pig) having difficulties giving birth. His wife comes alone with the kids because he puts his animals above himself and his family, that is amazing to me his dedication to the animals.

He also uses modern livestock barns to raise his pigs in and his farm doesn't smell at all, I live 1/2 a mile away and we never smell the pigs. He gave us a tour of his farm when we moved from town to the country and I was very impressed with his barns. He told me they kept the sows in stalls to protect them from injuring the unborn pigs and each other. He then took me to a barn where the animals were not in stalls and the pigs were fighting like crazy. I totally understood what he meant. Those animals are mean to each other. He also knows if his sows are eating or not by housing them individually, and he can get the veterinarian there if one isn't eating. By keeping the sows indoors, he protects them from the rain, snow, heat, cold and wild animals. It also prevents birds from carrying diseases from one farm to another. He said he doesn't have to vaccinate like he used to and his hogs are not getting sick like they did outside. He also said he uses a lot less antibiotics than he did 20 years ago when the hogs were outdoors.

I encourage everyone to visit with a farmer or rancher and learn why they have modernized their farms. I didn't realize it but farmers produce more food on fewer acres today than they did 20 years ago. This is part of why they house their animals in doors, because houses and parking lots sit where animals used to live because of urban sprawl. They are also able to contain the manure from the animals and use it as natural fertilizer, which protects our energy supply in this country since commercial nitrogen ferlitizer is oil based.

Bravo to Oprah for bringing this issue into the public light. At this moment on the planet it is critical that we provide the truth to the masses in regards to the activities that most people take for granted. If more people can see the connection between their diet and supporting institutions of cruelty then the possibilty for positive change can become a reality. Factory farming effects every single creature on the planet directly or indirectly. Embrace a brighter future. Peace begins on your plate.

Love, Peace and Light,

Adam

Thank you so much Oprah for having the courage that the others don't on mainstream TV, and standing up to show the lives of these poor defenseless souls who wear the clothing of an animal, being tortured, maimed, slaughtered and killed, so the so the rich can have their steak dinners and eggs and sausage in the morning. Why does our society value our lifestyles more than others lives? Q/ How many people are starving in the world? A/ 862 Million Q/ How much grain is used by the livestock industry each year? A/ Enough to feed 2 Billion people

Oprah you are truly a Godsend for these animals, who have dwealt on the this planet we call our own, far longer than us, and bring us nothing but love.

May God bless you and all your works!

FYI....the grain fed to livestock is not the same grain consumed by humans. This is feed grade grain, not edible grain for humans. The land is geing used to raise grain for livestock because that is how farmers can produce enough food to feed the hungry in this world.

Forcing farmers to go back to outdated methods of farming will not produce more food, but less food because there are fewer acres in agriculture today than 20 - 30 years ago. If you want more food produced, tear down the shopping malls, parking lots, apartment complexes and houses that are sitting where livestock and crops used to be raised. I think it's time we stopped attacking the farmer and blaming them for the world's food shortage. If you really want to help , then take some of the blame for urban sprawl and increased regulations that have no benefit to the animals or farmers. Think about the farmers you put out of business each day by spreading half-truths about their industry. Each farmer feeds over 144 people, when you put a farmer out of businss, more than 144 people go without food. How humane is that? Farmers make up less than 1% of this country's population and 98% of that 1% are family farmers, many who use technology to produce safe food for you and I. By passing these ridiculous laws, you will put the family farmer out of business and our food will be imported. How safe will that be? Look at the baby formula in China - do you want that happening here? I sure don't but if we kill the American farmers way to produce safe food, that will be our reality. Why do we as a society think we know more about farming than those who produce the food?

Awesome, can't wait to see the show. Thanks Oprah and Lisa Ling~~ I wonder if Oprah would ever talk about/discuss the film which Joaquin Phoenix narrated, called EARTHLINGS.
I wonder if she will ever talk about the massive amounts of pollution animal agriculture produces and it's significant damaging effects it has on our environment.

And will she ever talk about the United Nation's report on how the livestock industry contributes to nearly 1/5 of all the greenhouse gases contributing to climate change -- which is more than all the cars, trucks, ships, planes in the world combined?

Thanks again Oprah, for getting us to think about the foods we eat, and where they come from!

Thank you for tackling this issue. I trust you'll report fairly and show the few small farms who treat their animals well and the majority of large farms that treat their animals terribly. And I trust you'll remind viewers that all farmed animals come to the same untimely end - slaughter. And I trust you'll remind viewers they have a choice and can choose not to eat animals at all.

Again, thank you.

Peace begins on your plate. Absolutely.

Dear Oprah,

Thank you for your kind heart! I became vegan just last Christmas, after hearing the author of The World Peace Diet, Dr. Will Tuttle, speak in Cincinnati. I think that I didn't really want to know what was going on until then, but the real truth is what will set us free. It's not only about compassion to animals now, it's also about human survival on our planet! According to the U.N., animal agriculture is responsible for more pollution than all the world's transportation combined. If we want peace, we must grant peace to others; especially those who can't stand up for themselves!

Thank you and God Bless you! With world leaders like yourself, I think there is hope for the world and all who share it to have a bright future!

your friend and fan,

Meghan Burke

Cincinnati Oh

Well, it looks like Oprah is helping bring this totally serious issue to the forefront.

1996, the United Nations came out with its 375 page report on how the livestock industry contributes more to global warming then cars and trucks! Chicago University has also deduced the same thing.

From the research that i've read, over 10 Billion animals are killed every year in the U.S.

Factory Farming (not small farms) - causes: air pollution, water pollution, land pollution and degradation, vasts amount of trees being cut down, vasts amounts of energy being used to run the plants, freeze the meat and transport the meat, vast amounts of water used, mistreated and unbearable suffering to the animals, poisoned meat (and milk) full of antibiotics and steriods and disease; causes cancer in humans, now documented, and a variety of other deadly illnesses - most recently in canada listeriosis.

I've further realized that meat doesn't even taste good really. It is the sauces we put on the meat that are yummy. Ketchup, relish, mustard are all from vegetables. A1 steak sauce all vegetables and spices. Salt and pepper etc...:p

So, in the end, why do we have factory farming at all? What are the honest to goodness benefits? Prop 2 doesn't do much for anything , i'm sorry to say. But at least it's a start. A start to a long road to eliminate factory farms and all the bad environmental, economic and health effects it brings with it.

That would be AWESOME, but John Edwards will need to be there too. Upton Sinclair died 40 years ago.

My family & I raise hogs using modern livestock barns. We farm with my husband's parents, his brother and his family, and my parents help too. We own our ivestock and land and work daily on our farm to provide food security for our country. We are a family farm using modern technology to produce safe and nutritious food for my family and yours. We also make our feed for our hogs buying grain from other local farmers.

Gestation stalls are used on our farm, and many other farms for several reasons. First, the stalls were designed by agricultural engineers and veterinarians to provide protection to the animals. They were designed using sound science. Sows are very hormonal and they will fight with each other causing injury and ultimately death. When sows fight, they end up injuring the less dominate sow. These injuries result in infections which need treatment. Housing these animals in individual stalls prevents injury. By housing our sows in stalls, we are able to protect them from each other and their unborn pigs. We also prevent them from having many diseases that are a threat to outdoor hogs. Outdoor hogs are attacked by predators. And hogs can not sweat so in the summer time, they will flop down in a mud whole to stay cool and to give birth to their pigs. Thus, the pigs drown when born. By housing these animals in barns with computer controlled climate systems, we are able to keep the hogs cool in the summer and warm in the winter. Our barns are washed on a weekly basis so the animals have a clean envirnoment to raise their piglets in.

We are able to monitor daily feed and water intake for our pigs by housing them individually. This is a benefit to the animal because it keeps a sow from over eating. When sows are housed in a group setting, you have a bully sow who consumes all of the feed and starves out the less dominate sows. The bully sow ends up having piglets that are too big to pass through the birth canal. As a result, the sow can not deliver the pigs and ends up dying. For the sows that were starved out, their pigs are normally born dead or very weak and thin. They normally will die after birth for failure to thrive.

My family cares deeply for our animals, that is why we have built these modern barns to keep the animals safe and comfortable. No longer do we go out in the winter and find newborn piglets frozen to the ground or a sow eaten by a coyote while giving birth. Those are terrible scenes to endure. I care deeply about safe food for my family and yours. That is why my husband and I have missed many family dinners because our animals needed our attention. We have stayed with our animals late into the night when they needed our help giving birth. Christmas morning at our house is not like most people's, we go out and take care of our sows before we even look at the Christmas tree. Please do not judge farmers based off what you have read in books or on the internet. Farmers care 24 hours a day for their animals, their families depend on it.

I may not be able to watch this show in its entirety but I will try....ALSO...thank you HARPO for the article 'Meat with a Conscience'...p. 138 in November 2008 Oprah magazine....which lists family farmers who raise poultry in open pastures....

Who knows.... I might 'lean' into a more vegetarian menu for my family after this show!