Watchdog groups say chickens used by Costco are bred to grow so quickly, many of them cannot stand under their own weight, and recent lawsuits against the company have put the spotlight once again on Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations. There are more than 3,000 such poultry operations in North Carolina, growing hundreds of millions of chickens a year. Chris Heaney, associate professor of environmental health at Johns Hopkins University, said breeding cheap chickens comes with a host of negative public health impacts. .
After a few years of breeding horses in the Ocala area, John Cossart and his wife, Jenny, decided to really retire and moved into The Villages in the Sumter Landing area.