Killed Young
Last updated
Last updated
It is often argued that exploitation and slaughter is fine because the animals lived long, happy lives before being killed. However, this is almost never the case. Most animals in animal agriculture are killed when they're basically babies. Even if the animals did live long and happy lives, this would make killing them even worse because they would value their lives even more when they're needlessly taken away from them. Below is a chart which converts the age at which the animals are usually killed, into a fraction of their lifespan, and then into what that fraction would be for a human lifespan, assuming the average human lifespan of 80 years.
Cattle for beef
1 year
4 years
20 years
Cattle for veal
16 weeks
1.2 years
20 years
Cattle, males in dairy
1 day
4 days
20 years
Cattle, females in dairy
4 years
16 years
20 years
Pigs
6 months
2.6 years
15 years
Chickens, broilers
6 weeks
1.1 years
8 years
22 years
Chickens, males in the egg-industry
1 day
10 days
8 years
22 years
Chickens, female egg-layers
1 year
10 years
8 years
22 years
Turkeys
17 weeks
2.6 years
10 years
Ducks
7 weeks
8 months
15 years
Sheep, lambs
3 months
1.6 years
12 years
Sheep, for wool
5.5 years
37 years
12 years
Sources on world record ages: Chickens